When the Dawn Comes
by Nicolle
Summary: Lord Chara, known for his dislike of humans, and Prince Asriel, a spoiled brat of epic proportions, have run a decade long scheme to hide humans tossed into the Ebbot Prison from the soul harvesting designs of Asgore and Toriel. Unable to transport the latest of the fallen to the safe house, the brothers are forced into a far more dangerous game of deception.
1. Chapter 1

When the Dawn Comes

By Nicolle

Disclaimer: Undertale is copyrighted to Toby Fox. This story is copyrighted to me.

Chapter 1

Asriel was a blur of white as he sprinted ahead of Chara, making for the garden of golden flowers in the Ruins. The proximity alarms had gone off a full thirty minutes earlier and both made a mad dash to get to the flowers and whatever had fallen into the Ebott Prison first. Dodging random pillars along a flower filled path, the goat monster and his human brother, both still in green sweaters and brown slacks from their last royal engagement, they both silently thanked God that no monsters were currently on the garden paths that made up the Ruins. Skidding to a stop just outside the gate that led into the one place they'd discovered had some entrance high above to the surface, mostly because Chara was the first one forced down it, and took a moment to look inside.

A girl in a loose, sky blue sweater and pale, linen shorts, lay in the middle of the garden, the golden flowers having broken her fall. Seeing no monsters having reached her first, Chara rushed in, dropping to his knees next to her.

Asriel played look out at the gate. "Is she alive?"

Chara took her pulse. "Yeah. Her heart rate is steady too. That's a good sign." He began checking her for injuries and found minor scratches and bruises, likely from the kidnapping that saw her tossed into the prison. He pulled out a flashlight, gently opening the girl's eyes to check pupil dilation. "That's an interesting pair of blue eyes," he muttered, before checking for broken bones. "She doesn't appear to have any broken bones or a concussion."

Chara sat back a moment to look really look at her, his fingers gently brushing soft brown hair from her face. "She's really pretty." Something caught his eye on her shoulder and he moved the collar of her shirt to have a look. "Oh fuck."

Asriel spared him a quick glance. "What?"

"She's an Everdawn!" Chara jerked his bag open, nearly snagging the zipper, and dug through it for a bottle of liquid foundation. "She's got the family tattoo on her shoulder." He quickly wiped the foundation across the tattoo, blowing on it to help it dry quickly.

"Everdawn? As in, 'family of wizards who made the prison' Everdawn?"

Chara nodded. "It means her soul is particularly powerful."

Asriel snarled at a noise. "The royal guard is almost here. We're out of time. There's no way we can get her to the safe house without going past them."

Chara frowned. "All right. Switch to Plan B."

Asriel rushed over to the girl, gently lifting her. "Do you think we can pull it off?"

"Your dad said I deserved a reward and she looks to be my age. Run it like she would be a new 'pet' for me."

Asriel nodded. "One royally spoiled brat, coming up!"

They smiled at each other for a moment before Chara dashed away, hiding in the garden. The girl in Asriel's arms moaned, eyes fluttering open. He could see the guard making their way to the gate.

Leaning in a little, he put his snout near her ear to whisper, "Whatever you do, don't fight and don't say your name."

She blinked at him and he smiled softly, nuzzling her cheek with his nose.

"Don't say your name."

The guard came to attention in front of Asriel.

Captain Brine, a vicious looking, dark green, lizard monster with a white face, stepped forward, his armor clanking. "Please give the human to me, Your Highness. It could be rabid."

Asriel snorted and lifted his snout. "Oh please. I know better." He gave the girl in his arms a soft smirk. "I like this one. I'm keeping it." He marched past the Captain.

"Your royal Father-"

"Will have a lot to say about it, I'm sure. But Chara and I could use a pet and this one is very likely to have a," he paused dramatically, giving the Captain a raised eyebrow "_particular _appeal for my brother."

The Captain folded his arms over his chest, using one hand to point at the girl. "I doubt Lord Chara will be interested in that."

Asriel waved it off, continuing away with the girl. "Oh yes. We all know how much my brother hates humans, which is exactly why he'd be interested in a female one."

The girl shivered against him and he gave her as comforting a squeeze as he could manage, before snickering at the Captain. "Then again, it would be a lot of trouble for you, if I just made off with it. I'll drop it in the prison under the palace and bring it up with my Father."

He stopped dead and looked over his shoulder, eyes glowing a bright and dangerous violet. "But if you kill this human before Chara's had a chance to look it over, it won't go well for you." He marched off into the flow of gardens beyond the gate.

The Captain growled. "That damn kid. He always acts like he's making my life easier and I should be grateful for all the damn trouble he causes."

"Shhh!" one of the fully armored guards hissed. "You don't know who's listening!"

Captain Brine frowned, which had the effect of revealing several sharp teeth. "Fall in. We're going to New Home."

Once the guard was far from sight, Chara came out of the garden, making a mental note of the guardsman who'd been wise enough to call for silence. He'd have to go, and Chara had become very good at arranging the kind of trouble that would end a guardsman in a pile of dust.

After looking up at the darkness above, he grabbed a stone and threw it as hard as he could past the proximity sensor, setting off the alarm. He rushed out of the garden to hide in the Ruins, waiting for the guard to pass. Once the Captain and his cronies had slithered by, he dashed out of the Ruins and down the stairs into Old Home. He slowed to a walk, hands in his pockets. The monster citizens of Old Home gave him waves and hellos and he returned them with warm smiles and soft greetings. He ducked into the craft shop on Old Home's main drag, picking out new yarn and giving himself plausible deniability.

He'd worked hard over the past ten years to produce a set of specific habits that would always shield him from accusations of indiscretion. One of those habits was a well known love of yarn and knitting, which helped calm his thoughts, but also gave him a reason to be in unusual places since the shops tended to be in unusual places. The other was setting off the proximity sensors on a frequent enough basis that the royal guard took their time getting to the Ruins. So when humans actually fell, he and Asriel had the time to find them and get them to safety.

So far, they'd managed to secret away twenty humans in Old Home, Snowdin, and the surrounding forests with a very small and very loyal group of monsters. All of whom worked vigorously to teach the humans how to look and act like monsters and thus stay safe. The ones they hadn't gotten to in time… Chara shivered as he thought about them, the three human souls that quivered in their vessels, hidden away in the palace.

He purchased some yarn and headed to the dock in Old Home and a boat ride back to New Home so he could have a quick change of clothes. If he and Asriel were going to pull this off, he had to look the part.

Back at the palace, Chara sat at the table in the family dining room, sipping a cup of tea and knitting so as not to appear like he was waiting for anything. Queen Toriel sat next to him, quietly reading a book, and occasionally taking a sip of tea or a bite of candied snail. The family dining room was small, compared to just about any other room in the palace and each wall was covered in paintings of monsters in a very Raphaelite style, edged in gold flourishes. The ornately carved, cherry wood dining table would only seat six at the most and made evening meals very familial, provided you understood that your family might one day stab you in the back and harvest your soul for its power.

He'd changed into a blood red button down, black pants, and long black coat, knowing that it'd make him look intimidating with his red eyes. Chara liked to look intimidating for anything involving the royal guard, to remind them that he was always the one with the power, even if he never said as much. He'd taken to keeping his hair short, to accentuate the sharpness of his features, a shorthand for keen edge of his sword. Where the guard looked at Asriel as a long haired, barely adult nuisance, they quietly feared Chara, which was yet another thing he'd carefully cultivated over the years with a few brutal acts of dominance.

It wasn't long before King Asgore swept into the room, a large and overwhelming presence that Chara had long gotten used too. And one he'd come to ignore as the goat had gained weight around his stomach over the last five years. "Asriel would like to give you a present, though I doubt you'll want it."

Chara raised an eyebrow. "There is no gift Asriel has ever given me that I have not wanted."

Asgore smiled a bit too widely. "He proposes to give you a human as a pet."

Toriel's eyebrows went up, but she said nothing.

Chara looked back down at his knitting. "Go on."

Asgore looked to Toriel for a moment, and not getting a response, shrugged. "Unlike the others, this one is female. Asriel assures me that you'd think it an amusing diversion."

"And you didn't just kill it then?"

Asgore frowned, but not in an unhappy way. "Your brother was quick to remind me that I promised you a reward for your part in putting down disloyalty in the guard. So I stayed my hand."

Chara shrugged and stuck his bamboo knitting needles into the skein of yarn on the table. He stood and made for the door. Toriel smiled and took a sip of tea.

Asgore's eyebrows went up. "What? No arguments? No protests?"

Chara stopped and looked up at the king. "If my royal brother is of the opinion that I'll want something he knows I'd otherwise abhor, I will always humor him. As earlier noted, there is no gift Asriel has ever given me that I have not wanted."

He continued out the door and Asgore turned to follow. Seeing that was the case, Chara paused and bowed, letting Asgore lead the way to the prison under the palace. The way to the prison was not hidden or complicated, but it did mean descending into a dark and gloomy place of monotonous gray stone cells. They stopped at the first cell in the line.

The girl was fully awake now and sat on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Asriel stood on the other side of the bars, with a member of the royal guard, watching the girl with an interested smile, and Chara hoped his brother had managed to prep her. Asriel caught sight of his brother and smiled widely, his short tail wagging where it stuck out between his sweater and slacks..

Asriel held up both hands toward Chara. "Before you say anything, give it a real look. Unlike the others, this one is female and has been very docile." He looked over at the girl. "Come on. Stand up. Let my brother get a good look at you."

The girl slowly rose to her feet, one hand grasping the elbow of the other arm, and staring at the ground.

Chara watched her for a few moments before looking at the guard. "Open the cell."

The guard bowed and unlocked the door, holding it wide. Chara strode up to the girl forcefully and she backed up quickly, caught between him and the wall. He leaned over her hands in his pockets, his nose nearly touching hers.

"We're being watched," he whispered, "stay docile. Do not defend yourself against me."

The girl gave the barest of nods, and his hands came out of his pockets; his right cupping her cheek, turning her face up toward his while his left hand snaked up under her sweater. She inhaled sharply, jaw clamped tight when his hand groped her breasts, finding them larger than her clothing had suggested. Her eyes squeezed shut.

"Look at me," he commanded.

Her eyes snapped open and she shivered when his left hand slid down her side to grasp her wrist. Chara turned his head, leaning in to inhale her scent and immediately wished he hadn't, his pants suddenly feeling tight.

He stood up and stepped back, hands sliding back into his pockets. "You will do as I tell you, exactly as I tell you. Is that understood? Say, 'Yes, Lord Chara.'"

Her voice came out soft, but clear, "Yes, Lord Chara."

"When I tell you to follow me, you will walk behind me dutifully. Follow me."

"Yes, Lord Chara."

He turned around, striding out of the cell and the girl followed, head down. Asgore's eyebrows rose and he looked to Asriel. The goat prince smiled.

Chara looked up at the king. "I'll take her."

Asgore chuckled deeply. "Very well. You'll be responsible for her."

Chara nodded once and turned, walking out of the prison, the girl following behind.

Asriel smiled widely at his father. "I told you he'd want it." He turned and followed after Chara, missing the small smile on his father's face.

Chara went to the servants quarters and knocked on the first door. A rabbit monster with orange fur in a simple, light blue uniform smock and blue pants, opened the door and on seeing Chara, gave him a smile and a bow.

"Hello, Lord Chara. How may I be of service?"

"Hello, Isadora." Chara nodded to the girl. "Take her measurements and buy her clothing. She'll need a full wardrobe including undergarments. Use my expense account." He looked over his shoulder at the girl. "I want her to look pretty." He turned back to the rabbit. "I do not expect you to complete this task in a day, but I do expect pajamas and a change of clothes for her at the very least by this evening."

Isadora bowed her head, which had the effect of her ears falling forward in her face. "Yes, Lord Chara. She looks like she could use a change of clothes now." She waved the girl into the room. "Come in and disrobe."

The girl froze. Chara put a hand on her back and pushed her into the room, before leaning against the door with his arms folded over his chest. The room was a spacious lounge for the staff with tables, chairs, sofas, beautiful paintings, and a comfortable atmosphere; and the girl stood in the middle of it trembling. The room was empty but for the four of them.

Chara frowned. "Undress."

The girl looked up at him, and finding no mercy, shuddered. "Yes, Lord Chara." She lifted the sweater over her head, revealing an ample chest in a shear, underwire bra. When she turned to face away from Chara, he cleared his throat. Huffing, she turned back around, and finished stripping, a blush spreading across her face.

Isadora took the girl's measurements, noted the sizes of her clothing, and disappeared into a closet for a moment, returning with a red blouse, black skirt, and undergarments.

"This will hold you for the afternoon. You'll need toiletries. What scent shall I choose, Lord Chara?"

Chara lifted his nose. "If you have a preference, now's the time to say something."

The girl held her arms over her chest, cheeks burning red. "Rose."

Isadora looked to Chara and got a nod of approval. The rabbit disappeared again and returned with a travel sized soap and shampoo. "Do you wish her bathed?"

The girl's eyes narrowed at him over her red cheeks, and Chara smiled.

"No. She can bath herself back in the suite." Chara held out his hand for the clothes and soap, and the rabbit gently laid the blouse and skirt over his arm. "Have her wardrobe match mine in color." He nodded to the sweater and shorts. "Get dressed."

The girl knelt carefully to retrieve her clothing. Isadora bowed before disappearing again.

Asriel poked his brother's arm, having watched the scene with interest. "Want me to grab some food from the kitchen?"

Chara nodded. "Please. I missed lunch and I'm sure she could use some. We'll meet you back at the room."

Now dressed, the girl waited on Chara.

He sighed. "Pay attention as you follow me through the palace. It's not a confusing layout, but it is large and a few of the rooms are overwhelming enough with decoration that you can get lost just looking around." He turned, heading for the suite he shared with Asriel, stopping briefly to gather his knitting in the now empty dining room.

The suite was large and luxurious, decorated in luscious blues and golds. The living room was filled with plush, royal blue seating around a gilded fireplace that currently stood clean with fresh kindling sitting on a metal grate. A few logs placed to the side. Asriel was setting down a tray of food on the gold edged coffee table when the door to the room shut behind Chara.

The girl rounded on Chara, slapping him hard across the face, arm swinging around for a second strike.

Asriel rushed over, his hand closing over the girl's wrist, the other around her waist to pull her away from his brother. "Don't hit him!"

Chara groaned, rubbing his cheek. "Let her go, Az. I deserved that."

The girl seethed, blue eyes hard like glass. "Don't you dare touch me like that again!"

Chara grimaced. "Unfortunately, I might have too."

The girl shook Asriel off, getting in Chara's face. "I will not let you treat me like-!"

Chara's eyes narrowed. "I didn't spend ten years cultivating an asshole persona just to throw it away for your comfort. In this room, we can relax." He pointed to the door. "But out there, with a few very specific exceptions, it's kill or be killed. And if you want to live, you'll play the faithful pet."

"Did you have to molest me?!"

"Yes." He held up three fingers to tick them off. "For three very important reasons. First, I have to maintain the persona. Second, we were being watched and your discomfort was to our advantage. And third, was Asgore. Most of the monsters down here have no understanding of how humans make babies, but Asgore does. By molesting you, I was solidifying for him that I was an absolute bastard. It puts our relationship above suspicion."

Chara sighed. "Listen, if we ever get back to the surface and you want to press charges, go for it. I'll willingly go to the executioner's block. I won't be dodging it anyway with half the shit I've had to do down here to save the others."

Frisk blinked. "Others? There's more than just me?"

Asriel gestured for Frisk to sit. "We're at, what now? Thirty-two?" He nodded. "Yeah. You're the thirty second person to be dropped into the prison."

Chara nodded as he rested the clothing over the arm of a chair and dropped his knitting in a basket next to the couch. Sitting down, he tossed her the toiletries and she caught them easily. "We've managed to save twenty so far. They're pretending to be monsters and living far from New Home. Seven died in the fall and their souls moved on before the guard could retrieve them. Three of them were captured because the guard got to them first and were brutally murdered on the spot."

Frisk sat down in a chair away from Chara. "So why aren't you dead?"

Asriel waved his hand, his tail wagging. "Oh, that's all me! I found him in the Ruins and took him home."

Chara sighed. "Luck."

"And me? You obviously found me before the guard."

"Yes, but not fast enough to hide you away. This is the contingency plan."

Asriel poured a cup of tea and handed it to the girl. "The uh… 'bumpy' meeting aside… Howdy! I'm Asriel and this is my brother Chara."

The girl took the tea. "I'm Frisk Ever-"

"Stop!" both said at the same time.

Frisk froze.

Chara let out a breath. "Never say your last name. Keep your family tattoo covered with makeup, even if your clothing is covering it. I have a bottle of foundation in the bathroom and I carry one on me if you need a quick cover up." He covered his mouth with one hand, eyes moving back and forth as he thought. "Frisk is an unusual name."

Frisk snorted. "And 'Chara' isn't? I'm named after the most powerful human wizard who ever walked the Earth."

Chara's hand dropped and he glared at her. "What I'm getting at is that as a 'pet,' I'll be expected to name you and 'Frisk' works. Just flub answering to it on occasion."

"I'm not wearing a collar."

Asriel frowned. "What's a collar?"

Chara pointed at the goat prince. "As noted, that's not a thing down here. Now to figure out dinner."

"No worries on that front." Asriel handed Chara a plate with a sandwich. "I saw mom in the kitchen and she said she won't expect us for dinner since we'll probably be too busy with our new friend."

Chara sighed. "Thank God for small miracles." He paused. "Wait. Friend?"

Asriel nodded. "Friend. I said pet, but she was adamant about not calling her that."

Chara frowned and then shrugged. He motioned to the rest of the suite. "The next room over is the study. Beyond that, the bedroom. The bathroom is connected to the bedroom and to this room so the whole apartment makes a loop. If you want to get cleaned up, the door to the bathroom is right there."

Frisk frowned. Putting the tea cup down, she stood, walking over to the study door to look in on a veritable library of books and seeing the bedroom beyond with it's two, large, four post beds. "Where will I sleep?"

"With me," Chara stated flatly.

"Excuse me?"

Chara looked over the sandwich in his hand. "The bed is more than big enough for the both of us and it will be expected. Pets sleep in their master's bed."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Captain Undyne stared down at a report that left her cold, one webbed hand covering her mouth. "Is this… Is this accurate, Your Majesty?"

King Asriel Dreemurr, son of Kezef and Anahel Dreemurr, nodded; arms crossed over his large chest. An impressively tall goat monster of black fur, white patches along his arms and legs, and gold ringed, black horns. He towered over all in his court, including Undyne. Despite being dressed down in a dark blue hoodie and jeans and his long, white hair let down, his golden eyes gleamed with all the authority of his status. "Frisk Everdawn was at the park with my children yesterday afternoon when she was abducted. The operation was specifically looking to take her."

Undyne sat down, hand still covering her mouth as she looked at the report. "A monster with more firepower than he should have had blitzed the park and when the guards on duty rushed to the children, the perpetrator grabbed Frisk. Witnesses say she was limp while carried away, so she might have been hit with chloroform or a similar compound."

Evan Nightfall, the current court mage and Asriel's right hand man, sat down across from Undyne. "Someone killed a human, harvested their soul, and then kidnapped one of the most powerful mages on Earth." He shuddered and covered his eyes with one hand, his brown hair falling forward over a sharp face.

Undyne looked up at the King, unsure what to say. Ten years ago Evan had lost his youngest son, a kidnapping that was still unsolved. And now he'd lost the girl he and his wife freely referred to as their daughter, even if Frisk was, by all other appearances, a friend of the family.

Undyne put down the file. "This can't have come from nowhere. It was planned. What are we missing?"

Dogamy frowned, his long ears swinging a bit even as he tried to shake away the thought. "Do you think someone is raising another army of human soul bonded monsters to take over?"

King Asriel shook his head. "No." He sorted through a set of files on the desk behind him, pulling six key ones, and handing them to Undyne. "The member of the royal guard assigned to Frisk followed the kidnapper to Mt. Ebott. The kidnapper entered a cave and came out without Frisk."

Everyone looked sharply to the king, the room dead silent.

"When the cave was investigated, we didn't find a body. We found a hole that led into the Ebott Prison." The king frowned. "Based on the evidence of activity at the cavern entrance, someone is feeding humans into the Ebott Prison from a previously unknown access point. I asked Dogaressa to go through the records of disappearances in the city and surrounding area. Starting with Christopher Nightfall and ending with Frisk Everdawn, we are missing thirty-two people. The other thirty flew under the radar by looking like things other than kidnappings. For the past ten years, a monster had been feeding humans into the Ebott Prison."

Undyne's jaw dropped. "That's enough power in human souls to blow the prison wide open!"

Evan looked up at Undyne. "So why haven't they?" Evan tapped the table. "And the kidnapper?"

"The guard didn't follow him. The guard's priority is Frisk. He's already volunteered to enter the prison via the hole and see where it goes. I've put him at Dogaressa's disposal for the time being. He's too upset to undergo a full mission."

"So the kidnapper's disappeared." Evan crumpled up the paper in his hand and threw it across the room. The paper hit a map of the prison interior hanging on the wall. "What's going on in there?

Undyne stood. "Dogamy, call up the auxiliary guard and set up a perimeter on the entrance. Coordinate the plain clothes guard members to search the city for the kidnapper. I want to know why he killed a human and started feeding humans into the prison."

Dogamy nodded. "Yes, Ma'am!" He bowed to the king and left.

King Asriel looked to Undyne. "You're assuming that the kidnapper is from the surface."

Undyne frowned. "Besides Watchtower, how would anyone get in or out?"

Evan shook his head. "When Alexander Everdawn made the prison 300 years ago, he was concerned that the Barrier itself might be permeable. That a monster bonded with a human soul would be able to walk right through it. His journals went over the problem constantly and that's why Watchtower exists."

King Asriel lifted a hand. "The hole the guardsman found looks like a sinkhole opening, and the mountain is open to the public. It is likely that someone was simply exploring a cave, fell into or had the sinkhole open under them, and became Asgore Dreemurr's victim."

Undyne turned to the map on the wall. "But why not come out himself? Why send some other monster?"

"Another monster would be less noticable. Asgore or his wife, Toriel, would have attracted attention immediately and not have an army to back them up." Evan stood, trembling. "I'll go see Frisk's parents."

"Wait. I'll come with you." King Asriel's hand came to rest on Undyne's shoulder. "I want you to go to Watchtower. Use it as a base of operations to go undercover in the prison. If thirty-two people have gone missing and the barrier hasn't been destroyed, there is a chance that they could still be alive, hiding away somewhere in the prison. Any human you find, take them to Watchtower."

The king frowned. "Be careful. If Frisk is…" he trailed off, not wanting to say it. "An Everdawn's soul is as powerful as multiple human souls combined. A standard monster with that kind of power can blast through the Barrier as if it were nothing, but a boss monster like Asgore or Toriel? You would be dust before you even have a chance to defend yourself."

Undyne nodded. "I'll gear up and leave now."

King Asriel placed his other hand on Undyne's head, his eyes glowing. "The intelligence from Watchtower indicates that the monsters in the prison are the great grandchildren of the original army, filled with the same love and compassion as any monster of the surface. The Barrier has yet to open and free them simply because boss monsters like the Dreemurrs are long lived. Act with the same love for them as you would for any of Our subjects."

"Yes, Sire." She bowed and left the office. She only took two steps down the hall before she stopped to lean against the wall, one scaly arm across her eyes to hide her tears.

Alphys reached over, gently touching her shoulder. "Undyne? What is it?"

Undyne shuddered. "Frisk was kidnapped."

Alphys eyes went wide, jaw dropping. "What?!"

Undyne's arm dropped. "She's been dropped in the Ebott Prison. I'm leaving for Watchtower tonight."

"But… Oh… Oh God!"

Undyne sighed. "As soon as I have more information, I'll let you know. Right now, I need to hit the equipement locker. I don't know when I'll be home, but it won't be tonight and likely not for a week." She knelt to hug Alphys. "Just pray that Frisk's all right."

After a quick kiss, Undyne rushed down the hall to the equipment locker. She changed out of her uniform and into a plain shirt and jeans, braiding down her fire red hair to keep it back. Grabbing a nondescript backpack from a pile of them, she chose equipment that she could easily pass off as normal for a traveling tourist. Taking several minutes to transcribe notes from Dogaressa's file into a notebook, she finished it in time to catch a ride with auxiliary guard members to Mt. Ebott.

While Dogamy directed the perimeter set up, Undyne hiked up to the lone cabin on Mt. Ebott's slopes. By all appearances, it was a small home, and one member of the royal guard lived there full time. Hidden within a closet inside was a false back that opened to an elevator and stairwell into Watchtower. Watchtower was created just after Asgore and his army of soul harvesters were sealed in the cavern by the combined magic of several wizards. An actual tower, it appeared as part of the cavern, hidden in plain site against the forests of Old Home.

The tower was only minimally staffed, its purpose only to be an early warning for unusual activity in the prison. The two monsters, Loren and Fergun, and two humans, Dillon and Everett, on duty all jumped to attention when Undyne entered the control room: a large, semi circular room with windows that looked out over a large forest.

"At ease." Undyne waited until they sat back down. "Frisk Everdawn was kidnapped yesterday afternoon. We have reason to believe that she was dropped into the Ebott Prison via a previously unknown access point. I'm here to go into the prison environ to search for her and a group of other humans that have gone missing."

Everett raised his hand. "From our observation and limited interaction, most of the monsters in the prison are very much like those on the surface, filled with love and compassion. If Frisk Everdawn is here, she'd have been taken to New Home on the other side of the cavern where the Dreemurrs are located."

Undyne nodded. "Have you had any indication of human activity?"

"Uh…" One Loren started.

"No." Dillon answered succinctly.

Undyne turned to Loren. "What have you got?"

Loren flinched at her human coworker's frown, but answered. "The monsters in Old Home talk about a Lord Chara on occasion, calling him a human. I've never seen him on recon missions, but he started being a thing about ten years ago. He's listed as Asgore and Toriel's adopted son. The monsters that interact with him really like him."

Undyne nodded. "Thank you. Any particular reason that wouldn't be pertinent information?" She eyed Dillon.

"We don't have visual confirmation. Besides Asgore and Toriel, the monsters down here have no experience with humans, so 'Lord Chara' may simply be a very humanoid monster similar to yourself."

"Noted. I will use Watchtower as my base as I search the prison. While my priority is Frisk Everdawn, if I find any other humans, I will bring them to Watchtower. Give me the lay of the land."

Fergun stood and retrieved a map, opening it up. "We are right here, in the forest outside Old Home. South of Old Home is the Ruins. Heading east, the first town you'll find is Snowdin, which is a snowy environment. Beyond that is Waterfall, a water filled environment, then Hotlands, a lava heavy environment, the Core, which is a huge geothermal machine supplying the underground with electrical energy, then New Home and the Barrier." He closed the map and handed it to Undyne.

Undyne pocketed the map. "Who built the Core?"

Everett helpfully provided air quotes. "Asgore's former 'Royal Scientist,' Dr. Gaster."

Undyne frowned. "Dr. Gaster's title may have been a sham, but his skill was nothing to scoff at. Gasters are boss monsters. Is he still alive?"

Fergun shrugged. "Something happened after the Core was completed and Gaster disappeared. We haven't seen or heard anything about him since."

"An accident?" Undyne asked.

Loren shook her head, which had the effect of shaking her entire, teardrop shaped body. "More like Asgore was mad about something. We don't have a confirmation of death, but no one's seen him either."

Dillon stood and opened a utility closet, pulling out a warm sweater for snowy weather. "You'll need this for the forest and Snowdin. Old Home isn't particularly cold, but it can get a bit windy. Avoid Hotland. It's a kind of hell for a fish monster."

"Thank you." She pulled on the sweater, black knit with a white snowflake design around the neckline, finding it a decent fit. After slipping on her backpack, Undyne pulled out her phone and opened an app for radio frequency. "I will be on channel one."

Loren turned to the control board and set the frequency for channel one. "The door code to exit the prison is ninety-two, seventy-three. We can open the door from the inside for you as well."

Undyne nodded, hand on the rail for the stairwell down. "Good. Wish me luck."

"Good luck!"

Undyne rushed down through the interior of the tower, past a variety of empty rooms to the bottom. The door opened on a forest of pine trees and a lonely trail leading to lights in the distance. Undyne adjusted her backpack and started hiking. The trail eventually joined a larger one and then let out on what appeared to be a bike path. Following the bike path led her to a well lit residential area of a larger town. Monsters of all kinds sat on the porches of small homes, and a few gave her friendly waves, which she was quick to return.

The road widened as it came into the actual town of Old Home, though calling it a town was a bit of an injustice. Buildings rose up high around her, pegging the place as having once been a real city. But many of the buildings were empty, giving the place an abandoned feel despite the monsters who roamed the streets.

The buildings that were in active use had been painted a flat purple with unusual blue accenting. These buildings appeared to be in good repair, but the abandoned ones were cracked and falling apart. There was a visible 'line' in between the old and the abandoned, the abandoned being given enough room to decay without interference. Undyne roamed the streets for a bit, getting a lay of the land before sitting down to determine her next move. The roads indicated that monsters may commute to and from other parts of the cavern for work, meaning that there had to have been a faster means of travel than just walking across the cavern.

Looking around, she spotted a bipedal bug monster giving directions to a green rabbit monster and waited for the rabbit to leave to approach him.

"Excuse me? Would you know the fastest way to get to New Home?"

The bug monster, who only had two eyes, rather than a set of compound eyes, blinked at her. "Captain Undyne?"

She stepped up close to the monster, using her size to intimidate, webbed hands on her hips. "How do you know who I am?"

The bug monster looked around for a moment before grabbing her arm. "Come with me!"

The bug monster dragged her along for a few steps before letting go, trusting her to follow. He led her away from the town center and into a residential area very similar to the one she'd entered through, leading her into a small house. Once the door was firmly shut and the drapes closed, the bug monster pulled off the green mask covering his face and head.

Undyne's breath caught with a happy whisper. "You're human!" She breathed a sigh of relief, easily accepting the man's victorious hug. She pulled off her backpack and pulled out her notebook. "Who are you?"

"Jarold Kramer."

"You disappeared three years ago. How did you end up here and how have you not been murdered for your soul?"

Kramer sat down and gestured for Undyne to take a seat. "I don't remember when I was kidnapped. I just remember waking up in a garden in what the monsters down here call the Ruins. There's some cave with a big hole in it, and I was dropped in while unconscious. I survived the fall by landing in the big patch of golden flowers. You know, the kind you use to make golden flower tea. Anyway, I was found by Prince Asriel and Lord Chara. They got me out of the Ruins and into a safehouse in Old Home where a team of monsters helped me prepare a disguise and persona I could use to integrate into monster society."

"Prince Asriel?"

"He's Asgore and Toriel's son. I'd say he's in his twenties by monster standards. He celebrates his one hundred and fiftieth birthday this year."

"And Lord Chara?"

"A human son Asgore and Toriel adopted." Kramer held up his hands. "Yeah, I know that doesn't sound right. The story, as I understand it, is that Asriel found Chara after he was pitched down here and wanted to keep him. That was, apparently, enough to keep him from having his soul harvested. He's twenty-two now and has a reputation for being a 'human hater,' and is particularly well liked among common monsters. He and Asriel have been running the operation to save humans for the past ten years."

"How many of you are down here?"

Kramer thought about it. "Here's the countdown as I know it. There are twenty humans hiding out as monsters here in Old Home and Snowdin. Both places were chosen because they're 'backwater' and no one is suspicious of us. Seven are dead from the fall, having either struck the cavern wall on the way down or missed the flowers at the bottom. Their souls moved on before the royal guard got there. After that, we know of three that Asriel and Chara didn't get to in time. Their souls are kept in New Home."

Undyne set her notebook on the table and pulled out a pen. "That's one less than I have record of. Do you know the names of the humans?"

"Some of them. Papyrus would know them all."

Undyne looked up. "Papyrus?"

Kramer nodded. "A skeleton monster. He leads the team of monsters who helps us out down here."

Undyne frowned, afraid to ask the next question. "Have you heard of any new humans being dropped? And by new, I mean yesterday."

Kramer shook his head. "If someone new was dropped, I wouldn't hear about it for at least a week. I can take you over to the safe house to see if someone was taken there."

Undyne nodded. "Ready to go back to the surface?"

Kramer sighed. "There's a way out?!"

Undyne nodded. "The same way I got in. Introduce me to Papyrus please and then we'll arrange your exit out of here."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chara woke the next morning with Frisk in his arms. Sometime during the night, he'd woken to her quiet sobs, and spent a good hour rocking her, petting her hair, and whispering that it'd be all right. When she'd finally fallen back asleep, he'd cuddled her close, holding her the way Asriel had once held him ten years earlier before falling back asleep himself. He lay there for a few minutes, watching her sleep, one hand rubbing her back. After making sure Frisk was warmly bundled, he sat up and looked over at Asriel.

The bedroom they shared was huge, easily fitting two canopied, four poster beds meant to hold full grown goat monsters. The beds didn't even take up half the blue carpeted room. Asriel slept soundly, his short tail wagging in his sleep. Chara contemplated waking him up to work out together before deciding he wanted to be alone. Walking to the other side of the room, he moved aside the decorative privacy panel to reveal the mini gym he and Asriel had built over the years.

Somewhere in the middle of his routine, he glimpsed Frisk going into the bathroom and coming out again. She laid back down, but didn't sleep, watching him instead. Ignoring the audience, he finished up, quietly putting the equipment back in place. Carefully opening the door to his closet to keep it from squeaking, and waking Asriel, he stared at the double row of hanging clothes, trying to decide what to wear.

Guard members were likely to see Frisk as an invitation to harassment, a way to push him and check where his boundaries with Frisk lie. If push came to shove, the guard who'd shown wisdom yesterday would be a good target for reminding the group as a whole where they stood. He stuck with yesterday's black, and chose a dark gray shirt reminiscent of a very specific kind of dust. It would serve as an early warning of lethality.

After hanging the clothes on a hook just inside the bathroom door, he disrobed, throwing his sweaty clothes in a basket next to the door. The bathroom itself was as blue as the rest of the suite, with a white tiled floor, four sinks in a marble bank along one wall, enclosed toilet, open shower, and a large mural of flowers floating on a beautiful lake over a tub big enough for several people to lounge in comfortably.

He reached for the faucet only to look over his shoulder when the door opened, expecting to see Asriel and gaping when he saw Frisk.

Chara grabbed the nearest towel and wrapped it around his waist. "Excuse me?! Taking a shower, here!"

Frisk snorted. "So? I need to brush my teeth."

"I'm naked!"

Frisk gave him a sarcastic sigh. "Oh, so you're allowed to see me naked, but I don't get a look at you? Chauvinist."

Chara's eyes narrowed. "Fine." He dropped the towel and stood with his hands on his hips. "Happy?"

Frisk shrugged. "I've seen better."

Chara rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah. Guys with six packs are just all over the place. And there's no way you're going to sell me that you've seen the full monty before."

Frisk gave him a smug smile and turned to the sink.

Chara crossed his arms over his chest. "No way. There is no way any guy is stupid enough to lay his hands on a Everdawn."

Frisk paused before brushing her teeth. "You are, apparently."

Chara bit off a groan and turned to the shower. "Whatever."

Asriel waltzed in with a wide yawn, stopping at the sink next to Frisk and leaning over to wash his face while Frisk brushed her teeth. The goat prince stood upright, drying his face with a towel.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Asriel looked over at Chara, back firmly to them as he scrubbed his hair, frowning at the lack of response. The goat prince waited until Frisk was finished brushing her teeth. "Is he all right? Chara usually doesn't ignore me."

Frisk smiled. "He's embarrassed that I'm in the bathroom while he's showering."

Asriel's eyebrows came together. "Why?"

Frisk blinked. "Do you not…"

"Monsters in the underground don't have experience with humans," Chara called, back still to them.

"Oh. You never got the 'human talk.' I can handle that." Frisk smiled.

"Oh Lord…" Chara groaned. He shoved his head under the water's spray.

Frisk took Asriel's long, thin hands in hers. "You know how monsters have a baby by combining their souls and that combination leading to pregnancy for the female member of the pair?"

Asriel nodded, interested. "Yes. It's often a heavily celebrated, public event for the couple."

"That's because you are magical beings. Humans are biological beings and our evolution has equipped us with an innate drive to reproduce. We do so by combining our bodies in a very private event that isn't celebrated, though the child that may result from such a union is. But that drive also means that, once humans reach a certain age, male and female do not mix privately unless they are related by blood or marriage."

"Oh! So this is completely inappropriate!"

Frisk nodded. "And provides an uncomfortable amount of temptation to such an act best left to a couple who has already made public vows of fidelity."

Asriel nodded. "So why are you in the bathroom?"

Frisk's eyes flicked to Chara as he turned off the water and wrapped himself in a towel.

Asriel looked over at his brother and caught a blush on his cheeks. "Ah. Revenge. Gotcha." Asriel smiled deviously. "After a long day, Chara and I like to relax in the tub after a quick shower. Would you like to join us for the next soak?"

Chara's jaw dropped. "Asriel!"

Frisk smiled widely to keep from laughing. "That sounds lovely." She looked around Asriel to Chara. "Nice ass."

Chara pulled on his pants. "Nice rack."

Frisk looked down at the t-shirt she'd stolen from Chara's closet despite having been provided pajamas and shrugged. "Best you'll ever get to see."

Asriel leaned down. "Should I leave you two alone to commence with the combining of bodies?"

Chara stopped dead, his hand on his shirt. "Excuse me?"

Frisk giggled and turned back to the sink to wash her face. A loud knock came from the door into the suite.

"Breakfast!" Isadora called.

Frisk froze in the middle of drying off her face, eyes on Chara.

Chara pulled his shirt over his head. "It's all right. Isadora is with us."

He pulled on his socks and opened the adjoining door to the living room as the orange rabbit came in, pushing a cart with a silver dome on top. The bottom of the cart was filled with packages. The rabbit kicked the door shut behind her before pushing the cart over to the coffee table. Frisk followed Chara out of the bathroom, while Asriel ducked back into the bedroom.

Isadora lifted the dome and the room filled with the aroma of several foods. "I have muffins and oatmeal for you, Your Highness. The usual for Lord Chara. And, I forgot to ask you what you wanted last night, Miss Frisk, so I brought you pancakes. Is that all right?"

Frisk smiled gratefully. "Yes. Thank you."

Isadora smiled, ears going up. "I have a few things for you." She reached under the cart, retrieving the packages. "When I went out yesterday for clothing, all the retailers were very keen on why, so I expect several very trendy things to come in for you today and tomorrow. For right now, there's a complete outfit in here that will match Lord Chara's attire for today." She handed Frisk a box. "I wasn't sure what you might want in shoes, so for the three pairs I chose, I went with comfort."

Frisk took the box. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Isadora sighed. "I'm just sorry that you're stuck here and not in one of the safe houses on the other side of the cavern. At least you have His Highness and Lord Chara with you." She stacked the rest of the boxes next to the couch. "I'll be back later for clean up."

Chara lifted his plate of eggs scrambled with vegetables. "Thank you, Isadora."

The rabbit monster bowed and left with the empty cart. Frisk slipped back to the bedroom and came out a few minutes later in a black tunic, lacy gray skirt, and gray, thigh high socks. As requested, Frisk matched Chara and looked pretty. She sat next to Asriel as the goat monster stirred the heat out of his oatmeal.

"Back to my earlier question. What's on the agenda today?"

Chara shook his head. "Nothing. Tomorrow we'll be all over the place, but today is open."

Frisk leaned over the coffee table, cutting her pancakes. "So what do you two do all day when you aren't saving random humans?"

Asriel shrugged. "It depends. My dad is really intimidating to your everyday monster. It doesn't help that he's judge and jury in legal cases that rise to him. Lots of fear there. So it falls to mom to handle all royal engagements. Since she can't be everywhere at once, Chara and I fill in, and a lot of monsters will ask for Chara or I specifically to appear for this or that function."

Chara lifted the little lid off a mug of hot cocoa. "When we don't have to appear somewhere, we'll go watch the New Home Blitz play soccer- congratulations, you are their newest fan- attend the theater or a concert, hang at the craft guild, visit the amusement park, go swimming in waterfall, or go diving for cool stuff at the dump."

Frisk nearly dropped her fork. "Really?"

Asriel nodded. "You can find lots of awesome things at the dump. Stuff comes down the waterfalls from the surface and sometimes you come away with something cool."

Chara took a sip of his cocoa. "Television doesn't exist down here, so whatever we have in dvds and video games we get from the dump." He gestured to a painting on the wall over the fireplace. "We were able to save a nice flat screen and it's hidden behind there. When we're up for a movie or game, we just hook up the required system."

"Why is it hidden?"

Asriel frowned. "Because sometimes the guard likes to be assholes and destroy things. Though they haven't made an attempt on our room since Chara dusted one, and mixed the dust with paint that dad forced them to use to decorate the guards' office." Asriel shivered a little. "Anyway, we do have a couple radio stations down here since the signal travels well through the cavern and they publish their schedule in advance. One of the stations does radio shows and another does dramatic readings of books. Those are good for passing the time. And we have a pile of board games in the linen closet."

Chara finished his cocoa with a lick of the lips. "Speaking of entertainment, do you have any hobbies?"

Frisk nodded and set her empty plate down. "I like to read, embroider, cross-stitch, and crochet."

Chara nodded. "We'll go out to the craft and book shops downtown today." He sighed. "Your everyday monsters in the cavern are sweet and wonderful people. They will be very interested in you and treat you kindly. Even so, remember that when you step out that door, you are my pet human. Don't slip the persona. The wrong word in front of a member of the guard or a talkative monster can go badly for us."

Frisk frowned. "I guess that means I'm going to get it today for this morning, huh?"

"No."

Frisk eyed him suspiciously. "Oh?"

"How I treat you in public will cue everyone else on how they should treat you. If I abuse you, the guard will see it as permission to do the same. And I want them to know that if they lay a hand on you, I will dust them. That said, remember that I'm an asshole."

Frisk frowned. "Hard to forget."

"Put some shoes on and we'll head out."

"Speaking of which," Frisk lifted one of the boxes, "where do I put these?"

Asriel poked her side. "The closet next to mine is empty. We'll make that one yours." He frowned for a moment. "Since you're from the family that made the prison, there's something I wish to know and I hope you have an answer."

Frisk turned to him. "All right."

"I get imprisoning human hunters and by the size of the current population, I understand that it was an army being locked away. But does that really mean their children must live with their parents' mistakes? Are all the monsters locked away down here forever?"

Frisk took Asriel's hands in hers. "The prison and it's construction are a major part of magical history so the question you ask is not an uncommon one. I asked the same thing several years ago. My father told me that the barrier would open once all the human hunters had passed."

Asriel sighed deeply, his head falling forward, eyes shut.

Frisk reached up, gently touching his snout. "Asriel?"

"Even if I've come to terms with the idea that my father must die and that I will likely be the one to destroy him, that doesn't make it easier to bear. Knowing that he is a murderer doesn't erase the memory of his love for me or mine for him."

Frisk put her arms around Asriel, hugging him tightly.

Half an hour later had Frisk walking dutifully behind Chara, eyes down cast, and face neutral through the palace. Chara's steel tipped boots and long black coat completed a look that had every guard in the palace stepping back, and several refusing to look at him though all had eyes on Frisk. They ran into Asgore in the hallway leading to the front entrance. Frisk curtsied low, eyes on the ground.

Asgore raised an appreciative eyebrow. "Going out?"

"A shopping trip in town." Chara spared Frisk a quick glance. "She pleased me greatly last night and I prefer to encourage the good behavior with a treat."

Asgore chuckled darkly. "I suppose you are of the age that a human would enjoy such pleasures. The staff tells me that you've named her 'Frisk.' It's an interesting choice."

Chara shrugged, smile just a bit lewd. "She's rather 'frisky' in the performance of her duties."

A bright pink flush came over Frisk's cheeks and Chara knew he'd pay for this conversation later.

Chara gave the king a slight bow, hand on his heart. "If you'll excuse us."

"Enjoy your day out, Chara."

Chara gave him a smile and turned, walking toward the door. Frisk curtsied again and Asgore's hand gently rested on Frisk's head. Chara paused, eyes on the king.

"I think 'Angel' would make a better name for such a sweet girl, hmm? Ah, but I suppose it will just have to be my nickname for you." Asgore's huge hand cupped Frisk's cheek and lifted her chin so she looked up at him. "Before you go out, I'd like to perform a test. I want to see the power of your soul."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

Chara's hands slid into the pockets of his coat, gripping the dual swords hidden inside. Asgore held his other hand over Frisk, drawing her soul from her chest. Frisk watched her soul float there, expressionless. Asgore stared at the dull red-brown color of the soul with a frown. He dropped the spell and Frisk's soul disappeared back inside her body.

"Not what I'd hoped for." Asgore sighed and gave Frisk a gentle smile. "Still, you will make a fine paramour for my son." He turned away. "Enjoy your walk, Angel."

"Thank you, Sire."

Frisk curtsied again and followed Chara out the door. As soon as Chara was sure they were far from the eyes of a spy, he pulled Frisk to his side, trapping her at an alcove on the outer wall of a building to lean over her.

"What was that? Seriously, I don't get it. He used the test for magic on you and it did nothing. Are you really an Everdawn incapable of magic?"

Frisk smiled.

Chara's jaw dropped and his laugh came out a little choked. "You used magic in front of him and he didn't even notice!" He leaned on the wall, shaking with silent laughter. "I didn't even notice!"

Frisk reached up underneath Chara's coat, grabbed the lining, and pulled his face to hers. "Let's get something straight. I am one of the most powerful mages in the world. And if you ever make a joke of my name again, I will make you regret it."

Chara held up both hands. "Conceded."

He put one hand on the wall next to her head and stepped close, leaning over her. Frisk took the cue and let go of his coat, sinking back into a submissive posture. His other hand came up, cradling her cheek.

"Please don't hurt her, Lord Chara! I don't know why you might be angry with her, but please don't!"

Chara turned his head to see a bird monster looking up at him with big eyes, wings held in front of her like hands clasped. He gave the monster a small smile.

"I'm not angry with her. I am, in fact, very pleased." He looked back to Frisk, and the hand cupping her cheek slid down to hold her hand. "Come along."

Frisk smiled softly, blushing a little as Chara led her away and into downtown New Home. The streets were packed with monsters and all gave them happy smiles and waves, a few stopping to get a better look at Frisk. For her part, Frisk returned the smiles and waves, but her eyes kept rising to the buildings reaching up into the dark cavern, and the bright lights of a true city, lit in the dark. Chara led her into the craft store, a massive, two story space of white walls and large sections dedicated to a specific craft.

Frisk looked up at Chara. "This place is huge."

Chara shrugged. "Like I said. There's no tv. And handmade gifts are a thing." He smiled. "Go pick out a few things."

Frisk rushed to the embroidery section first, Chara following behind at a leisurely pace, eyes watchful for members of the guard, but, as was typical, they weren't to be seen. Instead, Chara stood back and watched a variety of monsters offer Frisk tons of advice on what to choose with several asking him if they would be allowed to give her gifts. By the time they managed to get away from the craft store it was well into lunch time which brought on a new round of requests to treat them both to lunch. While he granted the various gifts and accepted the offers to deliver items to the palace, Chara gently turned down the lunch offers. Getting some sandwiches to go, he secreted Frisk away to a hidden place in the royal gardens.

Frisk pointed at the blanket already on the ground, surrounded by large flowers. "Is this where you bring all your girlfriends?"

Chara rolled his eyes. "Azzy and I like to hang out here and I'm sure he'll pounce us at some point." He sat down. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something and didn't want Az's nose all in it."

Frisk sat down next to him. "Okay."

Chara sighed and looked away. "You've met people from other wizarding families, right? Have you ever met Carol and Evan Nightfall? Or Michael Nightfall?"

Frisk perked up. "Of course! After their youngest son disappeared, my parents went to visit them all the time. I think they were hoping that my being around would help them cope." Frisk smiled. "I ended up being around so much that Michael jokes that I'm his little sister! Michael works with my father. He and Abigail Philman got married a year ago. They're expecting…"

She trailed off at the tear that slid down Chara's cheek. She gasped, "You're Christopher Night-!"

Chara swiftly twisted in his seat, clapping his hand over her mouth, hissing, "Don't say my name!"

Frisk stared up at him wide eyed and he moved away shaking.

"Don't say my name. For the same reason we don't say yours. I'm Chara. The missing son of Nightfall is gone."

Frisk leaned in, putting her hand on his arm. "They miss you. Your mom and dad still talk about you. It's like this aching hole in your family's heart. They want you back."

Chara shook his head. "They aren't getting me back. If we ever get out of here, and that's a very big if, I will still have to stand trial for the amount of monsters I've killed to maintain my position and authority. Even if I'm absolved of those crimes, I sealed my fate when I put my hands on you. My family isn't getting me back. It's better to pretend that Christopher is gone forever."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"I APOLOGIZE!"

Undyne blinked at the tall skeleton monster. He was gracious, kind, considerate, and a complete marshmallow. He was also very loud. He'd opened the door to the safe house with a flourish and a grand smile, the tattered red cape of his 'battle body' fluttering behind him. And he was the team lead for this?

"AGAIN, I AM VERY SORRY I WASN'T ABLE TO SEE YOU YESTERDAY! A BIT OF AN UPSET AT THE RESTAURANT."

"I'm here to retrieve all humans in the prison and return them to the surface. Mr. Kramer says that you can help me identify who on my list is here."

"I CAN!" Papyrus paused, rubbing his mandible with his red gloved hand. "BUT IT WILL LOOK SUSPICIOUS IF YOU JUST UP AND LEAVE. HMMM…" He snapped his fingers, eye sockets opening wide. "I GOT IT! WE'LL SAY YOU ARE GOING ON VACATION IN NEW HOME. WHEN YOU DON'T COME BACK, WE'LL SAY THAT YOU DECIDED TO MOVE TO THE 'BIG CITY.' FAKING SUCH A MOVE OUT WILL NOT BE DIFFICULT."

He frowned. "ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN TRUST THIS MONSTER, MR. KRAMER? SHE DOES HAVE A LEVEL OF VIOLENCE CONSISTENT WITH THAT OF ASGORE'S GUARD."

Kramer nodded, false green antenna swinging. "Captain Undyne is not human hunter. If she's here, it's to help, not because she was dropped in the prison as punishment." The human 'turned' bug monster thought about that. "I'm not sure you could even put someone down here like that anyway."

Undyne sighed with surprise. "And here I was worried about your capabilities." She gave him an apologetic smile. "I am the Captain of King Asriel's Royal Guard and I have had the misfortune of needing to use a weapon in defense of my king and his people."

"HMMM… I WILL STILL REQUIRE CONFIRMATION FROM A SECOND SOURCE AS TO YOUR CREDENTIALS. I HAVE ALREADY SENT FOR ANOTHER OF THE FALLEN JUST FOR THIS PURPOSE."

Undyne nodded appreciatively. "All right. In the meantime, perhaps you can answer a question for me. We have reason to believe that a human was dropped into the cavern yesterday. A young woman, twenty-one years old."

Papyrus shook his skull. "NOT THAT I AM AWARE OF. PRINCE ASRIEL AND LORD CHARA HAVE NOT BROUGHT ANYONE TO THE SAFE HOUSE IN OVER SIX MONTHS."

Undyne covered her face with her hands. "Where did you go?"

Papyrus reached over and patted her shoulder. "I TAKE IT THAT THIS PARTICULAR HUMAN IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE TO YOU?"

Undyne sighed. "She's a good friend and losing her stings painfully, but her disappearance is compounded by her status. She's an extremely powerful wizard and a descendant of one of the makers of the prison. Her soul is powerful enough that if any monster took it, they'd be unstoppable."

"AND WE HAVE HAD NO NEWS HERE. THAT IS NOT ENCOURAGING. BUT THEN, IT MIGHT ALSO BE A SIGN OF GOOD NEWS TOO." Papyrus frowned. "I WILL CONTACT ISADORA. IF A HUMAN HAS BEEN HARVESTED, SHE WILL KNOW."

There was a knock at the door before it opened and a lizard woman entered the safe house, kicking the snow from her boots. She paused mid kick, jaw hanging open.

"Captain… Captain Undyne?"

The lizard woman rushed across the room and crashed into Undyne with a hug.

"It is you! Has someone finally come for us?!"

Papyrus sat up straight. "WELL THEN! I SUPPOSE I HAVE MY CONFIRMATION. GIVE ME YOUR LIST."

Undyne pushed the notebook to him from around the hug. "My orders are to retrieve all humans. As soon as we can make it look natural, I will take you to the exit point."

The lizard woman leaned back with a frown. "That may not be possible. A few of us have married and have monster spouses. They may choose to stay, despite the danger. And I doubt that Lord Chara will leave Prince Asriel behind."

Papyrus took a pen to the list. "I AM MARKING THE NAMES OF THOSE WE HAVE HIDDEN, AND HEARTS NEXT TO THE NAMES OF THOSE MARRIED TO MONSTERS." He paused, tapping the pen against the paper. "THESE TWELVE NAMES ARE NOT FAMILIAR. I KNOW OF THREE SOULS IN CONTAINMENT AND SEVEN WHO PASSED, THEIR SOULS LEAVING BEFORE RETRIEVAL, BUT I'M UNAWARE OF THEIR NAMES. PERHAPS ONE OF THESE IS LORD CHARA?"

"Is Chara his actual name or a pseudonym?"

"I BELIEVE IT IS THE NAME PRINCE ASRIEL GAVE HIM TEN YEARS AGO. IF HE HAS ANOTHER NAME, HE HAS NEVER REVEALED IT TO ME." He handed the notebook back to Undyne. "WE WILL NEED TO CONTACT PRINCE ASRIEL AND LORD CHARA ABOUT THIS ANYWAY."

Papyrus smiled and stood. "I WILL CONTACT ISADORA AND PASS THIS INFORMATION TO PRINCE ASRIEL THROUGH HER. WHILE THAT IS HAPPENING, WE'LL TALK TO EACH OF THE HUMANS IN THE PRISON AND COME UP WITH WAYS TO REMOVE THEM WITHOUT SUSPICION. THANKFULLY, TWENTY PEOPLE IS LESS THAN A BLIP ON THE RADAR AND A LACK OF A FORMAL POLICE FORCE ALLOWS US TO MOVE IN RELATIVE FREEDOM."

Undyne nodded. "I'll need to confer with the boss about the removal of monster spouses. Everyone leaving the prison will need debrief and help reintegrating to life on the surface, especially the monsters." Undyne frowned. "What is the history you are taught here?"

Papyrus paused. "WE ARE TAUGHT THAT ASGORE WAS DEPOSED AND ALL MONSTERS WERE FORCED INTO THE PRISON. THAT NO MONSTERS LIVE OUTSIDE OF THE PRISON. I KNOW THIS IS NOT THE CASE, BUT THAT IS SIMPLY A FACT OF AGE. I AM AMONG THE OLDEST OF THE SECOND GENERATION IN THE PRISON AND MY CREATOR WAS NOT ONE TO DEAL IN HISTORICAL LIES."

"How old are you?"

"MY BROTHER AND I ARE TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE." Papyrus wrapped the tattered scarf around himself tightly. "I WILL SEND FOR ISADORA. IT MAY TAKE HER A FEW HOURS TO FIND TIME TO COME TO THE SAFE HOUSE."

"Then I'll meet you here tomorrow morning."

Papyrus smiled brightly. "FINALLY! I'LL BE ABLE TO DELIVER SOME GOOD NEWS!"

Undyne smiled at his enthusiasm. Kramer walked her back to downtown Old Home and she found her way back to Watchtower. Climbing up to the control room, she took the elevator to the cabin above. Taking a moment to organize her thoughts, she pulled out her phone and called the direct line to King Asriel.

King Asriel sounded disappointed. "I did not expect a call this soon. Should I brace for the worst?"

"I don't have confirmation on Frisk. I have, however, met two humans and the team lead of the monsters who are hiding them, a monster named Papyrus. Asgore and Toriel have two sons, Prince Asriel, their biological child, and Lord Chara, an adopted human who has a reputation for hating humans."

"Adopted? Asgore the Ravager and Toriel the Reaper have an adopted human son?"

Undyne nodded. "Yes. And both of those sons have been running an operation to save humans dropped into the prison under Asgore and Toriel's noses. The official line is that Asgore was the rightful ruler, deposed by humans, and all monsters were forced into the prison. To the general population, only one human has ever fallen into the prison and that's Lord Chara. That said, Papyrus has record of thirty-one people. Twenty of whom are hidden in the prison and ten of whom are dead."

"Then the outstanding human is this 'Lord Chara.'"

"Correct."

King Asriel mulled this over. "Chara is not a name on the list."

"Papyrus believes it is a pseudonym."

"Can you arrange the retrieval of the humans?"

Undyne sighed. "And that's the issue. It's been a long time. Some of them have taken spouses among the monsters in the prison and I've been told that Chara will not leave without Prince Asriel. I need more specific orders than retrieve the humans."

You could hear the smile in the king's voice. "Much in the way of complication."

His tone changed, becoming that of a king. "My orders are this: We will not allow Our subjects to live with murderers for leaders and believe their lies. Meet with Prince Asriel and Lord Chara. I want an assessment. Toriel the Reaper has a historical reputation for being a shrewd spymaster, and if her sons are running an entire operation under her nose, then they are an asset to Us. Learn how many of the human hunters are left in the prison. It is Our will that they be destroyed and the Barrier opened."

Undyne bowed as she answered. "Yes, Your Majesty. I will return to the prison and carry out your wish."

King Asriel's voice softened. "Dyne, I say this as your sovereign, but also as your friend. If, after assessing the situation, you feel that carrying out this order will cost you too much in LOVE, you have permission to recruit the help you need. Indeed, you will likely need help to take down Asgore and Toriel."

Undyne smiled, teeth big and sharp. "I won't let you down, Azzy! Not on any front!" Her smile softened. "With your leave, Your Majesty."

"I'll pray for your safety and hope you continue to bring good news."

Undyne hung up and headed back into Watchtower to the empty bedroom she'd commandeered for the mission. The next morning found her in the safe house, interviewing humans disguised as monsters. The majority wanted to leave, and Papyrus set to work arranging plausible reasons for them to just up and be gone from their homes. But the married ones opted to stay, not wanting to leave their spouses.

When mid afternoon rolled around, the door opened. An orange rabbit monster came in, and froze at the door, ready to run.

The rabbit's eyes narrowed on Undyne. "Who are you?"

"I'm Undyne Cichlid, Captain of King Asriel's Royal Guard."

"HER IDENTITY AND TRUSTWORTHINESS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SEVERAL OF OUR FRIENDS. I'VE CALLED YOU HERE BECAUSE SHE HAS A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION FOR YOU."

The rabbit nodded once, slowly closing the door behind her.

Undyne closed her eyes. "Did a human fall two days ago?"

"Yes."

Papyrus' skull snapped around, face suddenly filled with terror.

Undyne shuddered, covering her face with her webbed hands. "Please. Please tell me she's alive."

"Frisk is alive."

Undyne choked on a happy sob, her head hitting the table. "Oh, Thank God!" She sniffed and wiped at her eyes as she lifted her head. "Is she imprisoned? Scheduled for execution? If so how soon?"

Isadora sat down, patting Undyne's arm. "She's engaged to Lord Chara."

Undyne's jaw dropped. "What?"

"It's been an eventful three days." Isadora poured herself a cup of tea. "Prince Asriel and Lord Chara got to Frisk before the guard, but not soon enough to remove her. So they went with their back up plan of having Asriel make off with her with the express purpose of 'giving' her to Chara as a 'pet.' Thankfully, Asriel was able to prep her enough for the act and the three were able to pull off the charade perfectly. Queen Toriel was not happy with her son keeping another human as a 'pet' and forced the issue this morning."

Isadora checked her watch. "She should be at the Art Museum High Tea right now."

Undyne took a breath, let it out slowly, and nodded. "Is there any way I could meet with the three of them?"

Isadora's chin dropped to her chest, eyes closed in thought. "Tomorrow morning. There aren't any scheduled engagements." She lifted her head, large eyes opening. "I can't take you into the palace with me, but… are you a fish monster who can breath underwater?"

Undyne nodded. "I have gills."

"There is a pond in the palace garden fed by an offshoot of the river. I will show you where to enter the water in the morning and meet you at the pond inside the palace." Isadora pulled out a piece of paper and began drawing a floor plan. "In case we must separate, memorize this floor plan and use it to get to this suite." She marked an x over the royal brothers' apartment and handed the paper to Undyne. "I'll meet you at the New Home dock tomorrow morning at seven."

"I WILL BE SURE SHE IS THERE TO MEET YOU."

Isadora nodded and paused, looking down at her hands. "When you… When you take Lady Frisk with you, will you take Prince Asriel and Lord Chara as well? Please?"

Undyne reached over and patted Isadora's shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "I've known Frisk since she was a baby. She wouldn't let me leave without those who helped her."

Isadora nodded and stood. "I need to return to New Home. I'm not sure how soon I can pass the message to them of your arrival. Depending on how things are going, it may end up being a surprise."

"Understood."

Isadora smiled and rushed out of the safe house.

Undyne's head came to rest on the table, her shoulders heaving with the effort not to sob in relief. "She's alive. Oh Thank God, she's alive."

Papyrus gently patted Undyne's shoulder. "PERHAPS A WALK WILL HELP YOU CLEAR YOUR HEAD AND SETTLE YOUR HEART."

Undyne nodded, forehead pressed to the table. "That sounds like a really good idea." She sat up. "Can you show me where the humans fall from?"

Papyrus nodded. "YES! IT IS NOT A SECRET PLACE, BUT RATHER, A WELL MAINTAINED, PUBLIC GARDEN. IT IS ACTUALLY VERY POPULAR PLACE FOR OLD HOME RESIDENTS TO GET MARRIED." He stood and offered Undyne an arm. "COME! THE RUINS AWAIT!"

Exiting the safe house, Papyrus walked her through the decaying part of Old Home to a wide set of stairs up the side of wall. Monsters of all sorts sat on the steps and gave happy greetings as the two passed by. At the top of the stairs they came to a railed overlook of Old Home and a few monsters stood or sat at the top, enjoying the view. Going around a corner they passed a house with a withered tree in front of it.

Undyne stopped. "Does anyone live there?"

Papyrus shook his skull. "THAT WAS THE DREEMURR RESIDENCE, BEFORE THE PALACE WAS BUILT AND IT IS THE WAY THROUGH WHICH THE ROYAL GUARD TAKE ANY HUMANS FOUND IN THE RUINS. THERE IS A PASSAGE UNDER THE RESIDENCE, HIDDEN FROM VIEW, THAT GOES DIRECTLY TO SNOWDIN."

They continued through a winding passage, meeting the occasional monster and even running into a spider bake sale. After purchasing a snack, Papyrus led her to a garden. Flowers and shrubs of all sorts grew in the little bit of light that managed to filter down from the surface. Papyrus suddenly grabbed Undyne, pulling her away from the garden entrance. Undyne clapped a hand over her own mouth to keep from giving away their position.

Inside the garden, the royal guard pulled a green, flame monster from the golden flowers. As soon as he was out of the flower patch, his flames brightened, burning the flowers still sticking to him away.

He looked to Captain Brine. "I need to see His Majesty."

The lizard captain with his white face smiled viciously. "Oh. I'm sure he wants to see you too."

The guard escorted the flame monster away. As soon as the coast was clear, Papyrus and Undyne stepped from their hiding place.

"THIS IS BAD. THIS IS VERY, VERY BAD."

"Is that the monster who was sent to kidnap humans?"

"YES. AND WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BEAT THE GUARD TO NEW HOME TO WARN PRINCE ASRIEL OR LORD CHARA."

Undyne looked after them. "Frisk." She set off after the guard, only to have Papyrus catch her.

"NO! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS! EVEN WITH YOUR LOVE, THE TWO OF US DO NOT HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST A MONSTER WITH AN ABSORBED HUMAN SOUL, CAPTAIN BRINE, AND FOUR MEMBERS OF THE GUARD!"

"That monster knows who Frisk is!"

A white blur dashed ahead of them, through the Ruins.

Undyne started. "What was that?!"

"THAT WAS PRINCE ASRIEL. I BELIEVE THAT WE ARE NOW, NOT WITHOUT HOPE. WE WILL STICK TO ISADORA'S PLAN."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chara put his head under the water, eyes closed, sighing. He stumbled and put his hand on the wall to steady himself when Frisk shoved him aside, to get under the spray.

"Really?! I'm taking a shower!"

Frisk, her hair pinned up, began to soap herself down. "You're finished. Move along."

Chara groaned. "Oh, come on! The name joke aside, I was nice all day, yesterday. Not even a peep during dinner with the king and queen, and I still don't get to shower in peace? Wasn't staring at me while I worked out enough?"

Frisk raised an eyebrow at him and turned to rinse off, water running over her breasts and down the soft roundness of her stomach.

Chara turned away, face red as he grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist. "Is this just the way you're going to be?"

"Yep." Frisk turned off the water only to have a towel hit her in the face.

"Fine."

She lifted the towel away from her face, and gave it a little shake while blessing him with a self satisfied smile. "Thank you."

There was a knock on the front door and Frisk quickly wrapped herself in the towel. Chara reached over and gently pushed the door to the living room so it was only open a sliver.

The front door opened slightly and Isadora stuck her long eared head in. "The Queen is coming to have breakfast with the three of you. You've got about ten minutes until breakfast is up."

Asriel waved from the bedroom. "Thank you, Isadora!"

The rabbit saluted him and shut the door.

Frisk finished drying off. "What are we wearing today?"

Chara scrubbed his hair for a minute with the towel before answering. "Az and I have two engagements this afternoon: the Waterfall High School's Young Poets Club monthly reading, and then high tea at the New Home Art Museum. So Az and I will wear matching off white button downs under brown sweaters and black pants."

He paused only to pull on a pair of boxers before heading into the bedroom and opening Frisk's closet. "One of the dresses Isadora dropped off yesterday afternoon will match well."

He flipped through the dresses, pulling out a frock with a cream colored top and light brown skirt with lace edging that would hit her at the knees. He tossed it to Frisk before digging through a row of long skirts, picking out a lacey, off white confection, and grabbing a linen duster in taupe to go over it all. Frisk grabbed a bra from those hanging on a hook in the closet and quickly dressed. Chara adjusted Frisk's skirt and dress so that they laid properly. She, in turn, made sure his button down was straight and unwrinkled under his sweater.

Asriel, long ready to go, gently placed Chara's knitting in the basket by the couch, and laid Frisk's embroidery on top. Snapping his fingers, the fireplace, ashen from the night before, was suddenly empty and clean. He finished folding a knitted throw blanket, placing it gently over the arm of the couch, just as Isadora knocked on the door again and opened it for Queen Toriel.

Toriel, wearing a pastel blue, pencil skirt and matching jacket, sat in the chair that would put her at the 'head' of the coffee table and waited while Isadora and Asriel laid out breakfast. Frisk followed Chara into the living room demurely and curtsied to Toriel before sitting next to Chara on the plush couch. Breakfast went quietly with only a few pleasantries exchanged, something obviously irking the Queen. Once breakfast was finished, Toriel produced a letter.

"I have received a request for Frisk to attend an engagement specifically." She smiled softly at Frisk's humble look of worry. "Do not fear, my child. Such a thing is not an offense. You are member of the royal household and it is only proper that you represent us in an official capacity just as my sons do."

She frowned suddenly and fiercely at Chara, jumping to her feet to stand over him. "That being the case, I will not stand by and let a member of my family be denigrated as a 'pet.' And I will not allow my son to keep a mistress. We are Dreemurrs and above such base actions. I have spoken to your royal father about this, we have come up with a solution that we both agree on. Hold out your hand."

Chara huffed, and held out a hand. Toriel placed a small ring box against his palm. He opened it, revealing a beautiful ring of gold set with a pink diamond center and white diamonds down either side of the band.

Toriel smiled gently, her hand out to Frisk. "Your left hand, child."

Frisk delicately placed her left hand in Toriel's, blushing brightly.

Toriel rose an eyebrow at her son. "If I have to tell you what to do, I will be most displeased."

He stood. "As you wish."

Chara pulled the ring from the box, holding it gently in his right hand as he knelt on one knee. He held out his left to Frisk and Toriel placed her hand in his.

"Will you marry me?"

Frisk nodded softly, her right hand trying to cover her blush.

Chara raised an eyebrow. "Speak your answer."

"Yes."

Chara slipped the ring over Frisk's finger and stood, looking miffed, but resigned.

Toriel smiled happily. "Excellent! Now that it's official, we can begin planning the marriage of Lord Chara and Lady Frisk." She bodily moved Chara so that she could sit down next to Frisk. "For only being here a day, you have proven very popular with Our subjects and We will see more requests for your attendance at engagements. The one your presence has been requested for is a week from today which is plenty of time to show you what to do. This morning, I have an engagement that will be an excellent opportunity to shadow me and 'learn the ropes.' In the afternoon, you will be with Chara and Asriel at their engagements."

She took Frisk's hands and lifted her arms so as to look at Frisk's attire. "Very lovely. This will be fine for today. But then, Chara always did have an eye for dressing well." She brought Frisk's hands down, holding them warmly. "I will send Isadora to retrieve you in half an hour. Wear comfortable shoes."

Frisk kept her eyes down cast. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Toriel leaned in, gently placing a kiss on Frisk's forehead before she stood. "I will see you soon." She turned on Chara. "And if I hear even the slightest rumor of you making a lewd joke at your fiance's expense again, you'll find yourself working for Isadora for a month." With that, the queen left, the door slamming shut behind her.

Chara sat down next to Frisk. "I did not see that coming."

Frisk pulled off the ring, immediately checking it over before sighing in relief and putting it back on. "There's no magic on it, not even a tracer for later spells."

Asriel frowned. "She used the phrase 'your royal father.'"

Frisk looked between them. "What does that mean?"

Asriel sighed. "It means that my parents are presenting a united front. She drops the 'royal' part when it was an argument."

Chara frowned. "Even so, that doesn't mean they have the same reasons for the agreement. They're both notorious for having multiple hidden agendas and ulterior motives."

Asriel grimaced. "I'm placing my bets that mom wants grandbabies and dad wants you to breed souls for him."

Frisk's mouth fell open. "I don't have words for how incredibly evil that is."

Chara's shoulders sank. "It makes sense. As a mistress, the idea is to not reproduce. As a wife, children are expected." He sighed. "Thankfully, boss monsters are so long lived that we could delay anything like that for a decade or more."

Asriel raised a disappointed eyebrow at his brother. "Mom and Dad will be suspicious after two years." He clapped his hands together once. "Let's focus on the positives. Now the guard won't even think about laying a hand on you."

Frisk looked between them. "Really? Because I am dead sure they'd mob me the moment you weren't looking."

Chara shook his head. "You aren't 'Frisk the pet' anymore. You are 'Lady Frisk, betrothed of Lord Chara.'They aren't going to touch you unless they think they can get away with it."

"The example dad made of the guard who tried to kill Chara when he'd first arrived was the most brutal I'd ever seen him. It was awful." Asriel poured himself a cup and tea and drank it quickly.

Chara nodded. "After that, I would come home from school and be sent directly to training with the Arms Master. Once the Arms Master was of the opinion that I was good enough to defend myself, Asgore sent four of the guard to take my soul." He shivered. "I'd made short work of them but… It's been nine years and I still can't get that cold feeling to go away." He poured himself a cup of tea, drinking deep to stave off his sudden trembling.

Frisk reached over, rubbing his back to help warm him. "I don't get it. Does he want you dead or not?"

Chara's face scrunched up and then went slack, staring into his cup. "He doesn't hate humans. He just wants something that doesn't belong to him and human souls will get him that. Right now, he only has three souls in containment. If there'd been five when you fell, you'd be dead, and a trident would be stuck through my chest. His goal is to get out of the prison and gain the Dreemurr throne for himself."

Asriel stared down into his cup. "He learned the current king's name was Asriel and named me Asriel, so if a brutal take over wasn't going to win the day, he could switch us and make me a puppet king. Plans within plans within plans."

Frisk snorted and then fell back laughing. "Really?" She sat, up arms waving. "Okay. Okay. I know King Asriel. I see him just about everyday. I was babysitting his kids when I was kidnapped. Let's leave aside that you aren't nearly old enough or even have the same force that he has just in his personality. You look NOTHING like him! His fur is black, his horns are brown and curve a completely different way, and he's taller than Asgore by a good foot."

Chara and Asriel both sat up, looking at her oddly.

Frisk froze. "What?"

"I was under the impression that he and I were a match. I learned it from Mom…" Asriel snorted. "Oh God! Mom lied about what the current king looks like to Dad!"

Chara shook his head. "And now the question is, why?"

Frisk waved her arms. "No. The question is, how did he believe it? King Asriel fought in the war alongside his father, King Kezef. He's Asgore's nephew."

"Okay. Now this is weird." Chara began stacking the breakfast plates, preparing the tray for pick up. "You need some shoes. Isadora will be here soon."

Ten minutes later and Frisk was dutifully following Toriel along the streets of New Home, eyes downcast and hands held in front of her demurely. When Chara tried to come along, Toriel had sent him back to the palace with a book on etiquette, the pages on how to treat a lady earmarked specifically.

After walking for a full two blocks, Toriel stopped and turned to Frisk. "Walk with me, my child. You are not some lowly servant. You are now a member of the royal family. I want you to act the part."

Frisk timidly stepped forward. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Toriel gave the girl an indulgent smile. "Today's engagement is a conception celebration. We will be witnessing the Mayor of New Home and his wife combine their souls and produce a child. Have you ever witnessed such an event?"

Frisk nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good. Then I do not need to explain the specifics of the ceremony." Toriel rested a hand on Frisk's head. "And I must ask your forgiveness for the flimsy pretext to steal you away from Chara, since you know that such a ceremony is brief and Our appearance just as brief. But I wished to have you to myself at lunch today."

"I am honored that you think me worthy of your time, Your Majesty."

When they arrived for the ceremony, Frisk and Toriel were whisked to the front and a comfortable couch for them both to sit on. The mayor, a large, lion monster, and his wife, a cat monster, looked both nervous and hopeful as they combined their souls and in doing so, created a third. After many congratulations, Frisk followed Toriel around the reception, taking the queen's lead on what to say and how to say it. A brief mention by Toriel of Frisk and Chara's soon to be announced engagement spread like wildfire through the crowd, and Frisk was suddenly overwhelmed with lots of loving congratulations.

After a bit of cake, they took their leave, Frisk walking with Toriel through the streets of New Home. Pausing occasionally to look in this or that shop window, Toriel eventually stopped at a small restaurant run by a family of snake monsters. There was much slithering as Frisk and Toriel were led into a private room painted a warm, golden yellow with a single, white clothed table set for two. In the middle of the table rested a silver soup tureen, its contents steaming. Artistic photos of New Home were mounted on the walls. To one side was a buffet for two of salad, sandwiches, and petit fours with a bottle of wine and a pot of tea.

Toriel gestured to the table. As soon as Frisk sat down, Toriel's hand lifted, casting a spell to block all noise from the interior reaching the outside.

"And now, we can talk freely." Toriel turned with a smile. "Miss Everdawn."

Frisk hunched in on herself. "I'm not-"

Toriel pulled a newspaper from her purse and dropped it on the table, the front page covered in information about Frisk's kidnapping, including a photo of her smiling as she posed with the royal children.

"Drop the act." Toriel sat across from Frisk. "While convincing, it is unbecoming." She ladelled out soup for both of them from the silver tureen. "Even if I hadn't had other confirmation, I am a scholar of human history. You don't name a child after the greatest human wizard to walk the Earth just for giggles."

Frisk sat up straight, frowning. "If you knew, why haven't you told Asgore?" She held up her hand, the engagement ring flashing. "Why the engagement farce?"

Toriel placed a bowl of soup in front of Frisk. "The engagement is not a farce." Toriel took a sip of the soup. "The soup is rather good today."

Frisk's eyes narrowed. "It's a piss poor last meal."

Toriel raised an eyebrow, still looking at her soup. "Oh, this isn't your last. Just one of many more to come." She lifted her spoon, indicating Frisk's shoulder. "The cosmetics covering your family tattoo, that's Christopher's little trick. It's not a bad one. It's fooled his father for years."

Frisk eyed her and Toriel smiled into her soup.

"Yes, I know my son's name, not that he's ever breathed a word of it to anyone other than Asriel." Toriel lifted her head, yellow eyes on Frisk. "And you, apparently. Has he asked about his family?"

Frisk said nothing.

Toriel sighed, eyes downcast. "Even if it's to be expected, it still stings."

Frisk lifted her spoon and stirred her soup listlessly. "If you aren't going to kill me, what is your plan? To use Chara and I to breed you more human souls?"

The goat woman shrugged. "It is an interesting idea, and one that I'm sure has occurred to Asgore seeing as how, of the twelve humans to fall, only five survived the drop. But gathering human souls is not my priority."

Frisk frowned fiercely. "You are not going to convince me that a monster nicknamed 'The Reaper' is not interested in gathering human souls. Do you think history books on the surface gloss over your crimes?"

Toriel set down her spoon, eyes on Frisk. "I will not deny that I was zealous in the support of my husband's bid for the throne three hundred years ago. But it has been a long three hundred years. It's a considerable amount of time to 'cool off' as it were."

Toriel stood, walking over to the small buffet to uncork a bottle of wine and pour herself a glass. "Asgore and I tried many times to produce a child before Asriel. He is the only success out of fifty attempts. As much as I wanted a child, I felt a betrayal deep in my soul. I'd committed multiple, horrific crimes in pursuit of my husband's goals and my reward was a kingdom of ash. Makes it hard to conceive a child."

She gently waved the bottle at Frisk. "Would you like a glass?"

Frisk shook her head. "No, thank you."

"Courteous, even in captivity." Toriel sat down with her wine. "When I finally held Asriel in my arms, my priorities changed. From the first moment he could, he begged for a sibling, something Asgore and I could not provide for him. When, by chance, a human fell into the Ruins, and their soul provided a means for escape, I was the one to come up with the plan that would send a trusted retainer to the surface to find the hidden entrance and to drop more humans into it."

"I gave the retainer strict orders that he would only kidnap adults and ones that no one would miss with one exception. I wanted him to find a little boy to be my son's companion. I took Asriel to the garden in the Ruins to play frequently and the action paid off. Asriel found Chara. And it was easy to convince Asgore to adopt him. Asriel had begged for a sibling for so long and I mentioned the usefulness of having a human lieutenant, one who supported us when we finally opened the prison."

Frisk eyed her suspiciously. "You don't care whether the barrier opens or not, do you?"

Toriel sniffed, as if the idea was beneath her. "No. As a mother, it is my priority to see that my children are well off in life. As a Queen, that includes the arrangement of their marriages to suitable mates. Asriel will not find an appropriate mate in this prison. My only hope is for him to see the surface."

She pointed to Frisk. "But you are a marvelous match for Chara. You have similar backgrounds, similar interests, and come from good families. And, if the many magazines from the surface I've garnered are any indication, both a good match on a physical level as well."

Frisk huffed. "And it doesn't matter to you at all that Chara or I might not want such a thing?"

"I understand that it is fashionable among humans today to find love matches rather than negotiate a partnership. But I also know that, as an Everdawn, you don't get a choice in who you wed." Toriel waved it off. "Despite having only just met, you both work together very easily, both sliding into and out of the appropriate roles as needed. You'll have plenty of time to grow on each other, and after the wedding, it won't be long before you both succumb to very human desires."

Toriel coughed lightly. "Despite the crude joke my son made yesterday, I know that he has not done such a thing with you. Indeed, he is quite innocent on that note. As an Everdawn, I expect that you are pure of body. But as a young woman from the surface, you would still have more knowledge of such private matters. You can take heart in knowing that your future husband has never known another and will only know you."

Toriel smiled softly, sorrowfully. "Indeed, despite his steel exterior, my son is a soft and gentle young man on the inside."

Frisk frowned deeply, arms crossed over her chest.

Toriel leaned back in her chair, appraising Frisk. "You don't believe that I care for my son?"

"His LOVE sits at a solid eight. Parents do not put their children in situations where they are expected to kill for survival."

Toriel's eyes closed. "There are many things I can do, but that was not something I could dissuade Asgore from." Her eyes opened, filled with a deep pain. "Chara had finally felt comfortable enough that he'd called me 'mom.' He'd been very close to calling Asgore his father. When the fight was over, my child was covered in dust. Asgore was so very proud to have made a killer of a child. He did not notice the look of awful betrayal in Chara's eyes as it turned to a deep seated malice. While Asgore and I freely call him our son, he will not breathe a word of familial loyalty unless it is forced."

Toriel sat up suddenly. "As an Everdawn, do you know of any way to escape the prison?"

Frisk shook her head. "Other than the hole I was thrown down, no."

Toriel nodded. "Then let us treat this as a bargain. Marry my son. Make of him a happy husband and father. Give me the chance to hold my first grandchild. In exchange, I will take the three souls in containment, bond with them, and use that power to lift you, Asriel, Chara, and my grandchild out of the prison from the Ruins entrance. And all of you will have your freedom."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Frisk squeezed Chara's hand tightly and he leaned over, ear to her mouth. "We need to talk. All three of us and privately."

He nodded almost imperceptibly before sitting back up and relaxing, gently holding her hand while they listened to young monsters recite their poetry. She'd only just made it in time for the Young Poet's Club reading, Chara and Asriel both deeply relieved when they saw her. The appearance of a second human, and one on the arm of Lord Chara no less, had created a stir. And while everything had quieted for the poetry readings, all stole looks at the woman seated between the crown prince and his royal brother. Between recitations, when he knew the most eyes were on them, Chara would lift her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.

During the short reception afterwards, Chara and Asriel both made introductions for Frisk while she talked to each of the children, complimenting them on their use of verse and creativity. As soon as it would be polite to do so, the three left. But instead of going to the river and a boat back to New Home, Asriel led them deep into Waterfall and a little parklet hidden among the glowing falls.

For a moment, Frisk was distracted from her purpose, staring at the glowing, blue beauty of the cavern. She sat on the bench watching the water flow and the glittering lights as they rose up from pools to dance in the air. Chara and Asriel sat on either side of her, waiting and enjoying her sudden wonder.

She spoiled it quickly enough. "Your mother knows who I am. She had a newspaper from the surface with a cover story about my kidnapping and big photo of me on the front with King Asriel's children."

"Okay," Asriel breathed. "So she knows who you are and she hasn't told dad why?"

Frisk lifted her hand, the engagement ring flashing on her finger. "She wants Chara to have a wife. Her offer is that we get married and have a child. Once she's gotten to hold her grandbaby, she will take the three souls in containment, fuse with them, and used the combined power to send the three of us and the baby out of the prison via the hole in the Ruins."

Chara groaned. "At what point did she think Asgore was going to let a third human soul escape him? Or better yet, what kind of life did she think she was sending us to on the surface? Does she really not understand that if I see daylight, I'm a dead man?"

Frisk sighed. "I think she's hoping that we'll grow on each other enough that I'd use my name and station to shield you."

Chara rolled his eyes. "That's some serious wishful thinking."

Frisk's mouth twitched. "Do you really believe that I wouldn't?"

Asriel found his feet.

Chara crossed his arms over his chest. "Why should you?"

Frisk's eyes narrowed. "Uh, because we'd be married? And have a child?"

Asriel took a few steps back.

"A forced marriage and pregnancy. Why wouldn't you take the chance to be free of both?"

The air resounded with a loud crack and Chara groaned, rubbing his cheek.

"How dare you?! What in God's name gave you the idea that I'd be willing to abandon my children or their father? A father, I might add, who's gone out of his way to vouchsafe my life? Oh sure, I'm going to make you uncomfortable for the slights I have to take for my safety, but that is not an indication, in the slightest, that I would let you die. Even more so if you were my husband and father to my children!"

Frisk grabbed ahold of his sweater with both hands, pulling him down so that they were nose to nose. "Let's get this straight, Christopher Nightfall," she hissed, "when we get married, I'm not stuck with you. You are stuck with me."

Asriel sighed. Reaching over, he carefully disentangled Frisk's fingers from Chara's sweater to hold her hands. "Please be forgiving, Frisk. My brother has lived with this awful shadow hovering over him for a decade. He expects nothing but the worst for himself. Even when happiness is staring him in the face, he's quick to mistrust it, rather than embrace it."

He let go of Frisk's right hand to grab his brother's, placing their hands together between his. "For the first time in a long time, we have a real hope. If the authorities on the surface figure out that Frisk is here, there maybe an avenue of rescue that did not exist before."

Chara shook his head. "I won't leave you behind."

Frisk nodded agreement with Chara. "Nor I."

Asriel nodded. "Then let us consider what we need to do to open the barrier." He shuddered, sighed, and looked to Frisk. "If you are truly willing to use your name to shield Chara, I can set my people free."

A beeping sounded from Asriel's pocket. He and Chara both froze.

Frisk looked between them. "What is it?"

"Our early warning on the proximity sensor. It's how we can get there before the guard." Asriel nodded to Chara. "Take Frisk and go to the High Tea. Make apologies for my lateness. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," both said as Asriel disappeared.

"Asriel can handle it." Chara stood, hands out to Frisk. "Come on. If everything goes well, Asriel will rejoin us in an hour."

Frisk took his hands and he gently pulled her to her feet.

"Listen. I'm sorry. There are a lot of things I never hoped for myself, and suddenly having so many possibilities just appear on the horizon has me distrustful at best." He sighed, eyes on the ground. "It is okay for you to abandon me. I prefer it. If there is a chance at rescue, I want you to take it without hesitation, or any thought for me."

"But your parents-"

"The little boy Carol and Evan Nightfall lost ten years ago is long gone. They'd be horrified at the man their son has become."

Frisk offered him a patient smile. "The problem is that you see that man from the inside. You know your own thoughts and fears, your own worries and anxieties, all the things you've done and failed to do. And all of that seems so overwhelming in comparison to the good you've done."

Frisk squeezed his hands. "So give me a moment to tell you what I see from the outside: I see a man who has sacrificed his personal safety and peace of mind for the sake of others. I see a man who has worked hard to hone his body, mind, and skills for the express purpose of serving those who depend on him for their lives. I have seen a man who is happy to give his time and attention to those unrighteously imprisoned for their great grandparents crimes. I see a man who acts as a protection for the same."

Frisk leaned into him a little, watching his cheeks flush. "I have seen a man who has acted with great love, fidelity, and chastity, even when presented with the opportunity to act unwholesomely. And it would be a great honor to call such a man my husband."

She took a breath, looking down for a moment before looking him in the eyes. "Whatever happens from here on out, know this: You are exactly the kind of man your parents would hope you grew up to be, and I refuse to abandon you for my own sake." She let go of his hands to slide her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly as her head rested on his chest.

Chara's arms wrapped around her shoulders. "Is there any chance I can convince you to at least stop teasing me? It's really… I mean… You sleep next to me."

"Not stopping."

His groan came out a sigh. "We need to to get to the High Tea."

Frisk nodded and pulled away. Chara offered her his arm and they left the parklet for the river and a boat to New Home.

"Thank you."

"For?" Frisk looked up at him as the boat rushed over the water.

"A lot, but l'll go with giving Asriel hope."

"He said, 'I can set my people free.'" Frisk frowned before a creeping horror crawled into her eyes. "He intends to-" She clapped her hands over her mouth, unwilling to speak in front of the Riverperson at the front of the boat.

Chara sighed and nodded. "It is exactly as you think."

Frisk shook her head, hands covering her face. "Oh God. We can't just let him..."

Chara put an arm around her. "We won't."

The boat came to rest at the dock on New Home's river front and Frisk followed Chara to the New Home Art Museum. The museum was off the main thoroughfare. A three story building that took up an entire city block, it was covered in green copper sheeting and reflective glass on the upper two floors which overhung the red brick first floor on cantilevers. A team of snake monsters were washing the windows on one side and all waved when they spotted Chara.

Chara held the door for Frisk, ushering her into a grand lobby that took up all three stories. A massive sculpture of swirling, multicolored glass hung over head, filling the otherwise plain space with a warm, colored light over a simple reception desk.

A blue rabbit monster, in a prim, navy suit, waved excitedly when she saw them. "Over here, Lord Chara! I was told you had an extra today so…" She trailed off, blinking at Frisk.

"Hello, Azure. This is my fiance, the Lady Frisk."

"Oh. My. Gosh! I heard that there was a new human at the palace, but… EEEE!" She waved her fists in front of her chest, squealing excitedly with her eyes squeezed shut. "This is so amazing! Congratulations!" She grabbed Frisk's hand and pulled her along. "You've never been to the museum! The High Tea doesn't start for a few minutes. I'll show you around! Oh wow! What luck! You're only the second human to ever fall into the Underground after Lord Chara. I'm so happy that you make a good match for each other! I'm sure the Queen is very excited!"

Frisk looked back at Chara, holding up two fingers. 'Second?' she mouthed.

'They don't know,' Chara mouthed back. Frisk's jaw dropped.

Azure drew Frisk along. "The museum is arranged by time so you start with the earliest works in the collection and walk your way forward through history as you go gallery to gallery, ending with two changing exhibit spaces." She looked back at Frisk and Chara, squealing again. "Oh! I'm going to have to talk to the Director about an exhibit of human art for the wedding!" She checked her watch. "Oh no! The time!"

Azure made a quick turn on her heel, and went down a hallway to a large banquet room, still holding onto Frisk's hand the entire time; Chara giving them both a smug smile. Frisk suppressed an urge to flip him off, maintaining the demure persona. They entered a banquet hall of crystal chandeliers, heavily patterned, red carpet, and circular tables dressed in white and gold. Rather than a singular design, plates, platters, silverware, and teacups were completely mismatched at every table, creating a shabby chic look among vases of large bloom roses and peonies. A long buffet table filled with finger foods, mini desserts, and multiple teapots filled with myriad teas was set up along one wall and dressed in the same white and gold.

The blue rabbit blinked for a moment before gasping. "Oh my gosh! I was so excited I didn't notice! Where is His Highness?"

Chara gave her an unconcerned smile. "Asriel has been unexpectedly detained. He'll join us before long." Chara offered Frisk his arm. "Frisk."

Frisk carefully slid her arm in his, letting Chara take her away from the excitable rabbit monster.

Leaning over, Chara whispered in her ear. "You can relax a little here. Keep up the shy, but happy fiance persona, but don't feel that you have to defer to me at every conversation."

Frisk turned her face up toward his, her lips almost touching his. "The monsters don't know about the harvested souls?"

"They think that Asgore was deposed and all his people locked in here. With the exception of my team, most monsters think that there are no monsters on the surface and that you are the second human to fall. Azure's reaction is going to be everyone's very soon."

"Then why the master/pet act?"

"To keep Asgore from putting a trident through your chest and to keep the guard from doing similar. We'll keep the act up around Asgore and the guard, but Toriel's given us more safety there. In public, we'll be expected to act smitten." He closed the distance between their lips with a quick peck.

Frisk blushed, cheeks turning a bright pink as a she heard a few gasps and giggles from the crowd of monsters in the banquet hall.

"Cute. I'll get us a pot of tea. Would you like a plate of nibbles?"

"I'll get you for that later," she breathed.

Chara winked at her. "I'm sure you will. Is there anything on the buffet you won't eat?"

"Broccoli and cauliflower."

"More for me." He pulled out a chair for her to sit and Frisk carefully sat, arranging her skirts so that they laid properly. She looked up to see several monsters at the table, watching her with wide eyes.

She gave them a smile. "Hello."

"You're a human!" a fish monster exclaimed, fins reaching up to slap either side of it's blue-green face.

Frisk looked down at herself. "That appears to be the case."

"Well of course she is! Lord Chara can't marry a monster! I can't believe you! So rude." A pink duck monster huffed at her fishy companion and moved a seat over. She took Frisk's hands in her wings. "You poor dear! Please excuse my friend. It's just that you are only the second human to have ever fallen after Lord Chara and to be so swiftly engaged to him? It must be dizzying."

Frisk gave her a patient smile. "It has been a whirlwind, but Lord Chara has done much to see to my comfort."

"But still, it must be so hard! To have fallen into a prison and then just as suddenly engaged to someone you don't know!"

"Thank you for your very kind concern. As swift as the arrangement has been, I do find Lord Chara and I well matched, and he appears to be well pleased with me." She smiled up at Chara as he set a iron pot of tea with a red handle and a plate of finger foods in front of her.

"I hope you are all treating my fiance with the great respect she deserves."

The duck let go of Frisk to puff herself up. "Well I hope, Lord Chara, that you are taking this poor girl's situation seriously! To have only just arrived and to be told she's to wed?"

Chara sat down, an amused smile on his face. "It is not uncommon among humans to have their marriages arranged. It's something that happens here."

The duck huffed. "But the intended couple at least know each other and have had time to grow on each other before the wedding."

Chara sighed. "Unfortunately, as the only two humans in the prison, we have nothing to do but grow on each other." He smiled at Frisk. "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please." She held her cup out as Asriel came in with a smile. Shooing the duck out of his seat, he rested in the chair next to Frisk, grasping her hand gently. She squeezed his hand back, feeling the tremble in his fingers. When all eyes where on Chara as he poured tea for the rest of the table, she leaned in to place her mouth near his long ear.

"What happened?"

He turned his snout so that his nose booped her cheek. "I'll explain later. Just enjoy the High Tea."

Frisk nodded.

Asriel booped her cheek again, before turning to the table with a wide smile. "Has my brother properly introduced this lovely lady yet?" He gave Chara a chiding wag of the finger. "Just because she needs no introduction doesn't mean she shouldn't have one!" He took Frisk's hand, lifting it so that the engagement ring glittered on her finger. "This is Lady Frisk. My brother's fiance and the newest addition to the Dreemurr family."

Several oohs and handshakes followed only to be cut short when the museum Director took to a podium to give a short speech. While everyone nibbled, one of the museum's curators, a green cat monster, gave a presentation on an upcoming textiles exhibit, featuring the work of school children. After the presentation, the three took their leave to the disappointed sighs of several monsters. Asriel led them to the secret spot in the garden Chara had shared with Frisk the day before.

Once they were sure of privacy, Asriel's smile fell and he began to shake. "The retainer my parents sent out to kidnap humans was the one who set of the proximity alarm."

"Oh f-" Chara bit off the curse. "We need a plan."

Asriel nodded. "I have one. Both of you make sure your family tattoos are covered. Dad is already convinced that Frisk's soul is of little power, so we'll keep up the act. We'll go home as normal, like we know nothing." He put his hand on Frisk's shoulder. "If we see the flame monster that kidnapped you, I want you to give us your best, terrified girl impression. Chara, go with being angry that your pet is out of sorts. I'll run the a 'knight in shining armor' act on Frisk's behalf."

Frisk and Chara nodded, before both checking their tattoos were covered. The three exited the little grove, Frisk following the boys' lead on shaking off the news and acting as if they knew nothing as they made their way back to the palace. The gated plaza, in front of the palace, patrolled by the guard without fail, was empty.

"That's not good," Asriel said.

"But I don't see any piles of dust either," Chara added.

Crossing the plaza, the three froze at the door, the Asgore's angry voice carrying into the plaza. Asriel shook himself and his expression changed, becoming arrogant. Chara straightened up, expression annoyed. Frisk stepped behind Chara eyes downcast, posture submissive and nervous. Asriel opened the double doors.

The grand foyer beyond the doors was an open, circular gallery with a tile floor arranged in concentric circles out to the walls, which opened into the hallways of the palace. In the middle of the room stood a massive, marble statue of Asgore, reaching up to the high ceiling. Asgore stood in front of it, yellow eyes glowing with a deep anger. In front of him stood a green, fire monster, his flames licking the air above his head and singeing the edges of his clothing. The guard was arranged around the monster, weapons ready, even as they knew they were no match for the monster they surrounded. Captain Brine stood behind the fire monster, looking unconcerned but for the twitch in his eye.

"Thirty-two! I've thrown thirty-two humans into this God-forsaken prison and you're saying you only have three souls?! There's no way that's possible! Why haven't you blown open the prison? Where are you hiding the other souls?!"

Asgore lifted his chin to glower down his snout at the monster. "Thirty-two? Our count is twelve. Seven of whom died and their souls having moved on before retrieval."

"Impossible! I sent thirty-two-" The fire monster shook its head. "No! None of this matters. The last one I dropped was an Everdawn! Her soul has enough power that you don't need more than hers to open the prison and take the throne!"

His head turned, catching sight of Frisk as she cowered behind Chara. "You!" The fire monster rushed through the circle of guards, leaping green flames turning one guardsman to dust. He grabbed Frisk by the front of her dress. "This! This is an Everdawn!"

His fire burned through the fabric to rip it away. Frisk let out a cry, quickly covering her chest as the monster grabbed her arm, revealing a bare shoulder and no tattoo.

"What?!"

Chara backhanded the monster, knocking him away from Frisk. "You will not touch my pet!"

Frisk hit the floor and crawled to the near wall, whimpering.

Asriel stepped in front of her. "An Everdawn? Please. Her soul has no power."

"No! This has to be a trick! She is an Everdawn!" The monster looked to Chara. "You! You were the little boy I first threw down here. You are a Nightfall! Either of their souls are powerful enough to blow open the Barrier!"

Captain Brine grabbed ahold of the fire monster, pulling him back.

Toriel's voice echoed through the room. "My son's true name is Chara Spencer. And that girl is no Everdawn. Her name is Frisk Goodall." Toriel came into the room with a newspaper from the surface in her hand. "You made quite a stir on the surface when you attempted to take an Everdawn, but it appears that all you did was grab another woman who looks similar."

Toriel threw the paper on the floor. "Your orders where to take people who would not be missed. Instead, you come here after having failed to provide us with the human souls we need to escape, likely to avoid capture after having disrupted an otherwise normal day for the Everdawn family. If King Asriel has not figured out our game, he has now. Our plan to leave this place is shot, isn't it? How many of Asriel's guardsmen circle the mountain?"

Asgore snorted, angry. "Captain Brine, take him away."

The Captain dragged the fire monster along, the guard following.

"No!" the fire monster fought against Brine's claws. "Those weren't your orders! THOSE WEREN'T YOUR ORDERS!"

The guard muscled him down the hall and his cries grew distant.

Asgore closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. His eyes opened coming to rest on Frisk as Asriel and Chara helped her to her feet. He walked over to her, gently laying a hand on her head, flinching a little as she trembled under it. "Have no fear, Angel. No harm will come to you. Neither will you die in this prison."

Toriel stepped up to Frisk, holding her hand over the torn clothing. The goat queen's eyes glowed softly for a moment and the burned clothing mended.

"Tha- Thank you, M- Madam," Frisk managed.

Asriel, gave Frisk a soft smile. "It's been quite the day. We'll take dinner in our rooms tonight."

"A good idea. I'm not in the mood for dinner anyway." Asgore gave Chara a raised eyebrow and an amused smile. "She's 'frisky,' eh?" The goat king snorted. He turned and offered his arm to Toriel, the two walking into the far hallway.

Chara bent his neck, his mouth close to Frisk's hair. "Are you all right?"

Frisk nodded. "I'm good. It looks like Toriel is making good on her end. But what did Asgore mean when he said I wouldn't die here?"

Asriel frowned. "I don't know. And it worries me. The fire monster said those weren't his orders and that worries me too." He swiped the newspaper from the floor. "There's no way this one is from yesterday." He chuckled darkly. "Quite the ruse."

Chara offered Frisk his arm. "Come on. Let's get some dinner together and call it an evening. There's a good radio play on tonight."

Frisk took it only to flinch at a crash from the direction the guard had gone. "Oh no."

The three rushed in the direction of the prison under the palace. The entrance into the prison was scorched, the solid wood door shattered. Gray dust was scattered everywhere.

Captain Brine sat against one wall, breathing heavily, one scaly hand clasped over a wound, one eye burned out. He pointed down the hall. "That way," he croaked.

They turned, running in the direction he pointed, led by scorched walls. Service staff cowered in doorways and alcoves as they passed, some weeping openly. They got to the end of the hall and found a hole burned through the secure door into the gray, empty box of a room in which the three human souls were hidden. The fire monster's flames danced around him as he punched at the walls, looking for the souls.

"Where are they?! Where are they?!" He caught sight of Chara, Frisk, and Asriel coming in the door and he stilled. "I don't need them, do I? I don't know what the two of you did to fool Asgore the Ravager and Toriel the Reaper into believing you weren't of high wizarding's blood, but it won't matter once I have your souls."

Chara and Asriel immediately stepped in front of Frisk as a volley of flame leapt at them. Frisk dashed back into the hallway as Chara and Asriel both dodged a continuous round of fireballs. Looking around, Frisk spotted a vase filled with roses. She smiled when she lifted it, happy to hear the water sloshing inside. Grabbing the roses from the vase, she stuffed the stems down the front of her dress, grimacing against the cut of the thorns.

Rushing back into the room, she threw the vase into the air. The fire monster saw the vase flying toward him and threw a fireball at it. It shattered in the air, raining water down over him. The monster howled, trying to shield himself with his arms. Asriel spotted the flowers, and grabbed them, throwing the roses at the fire monster's feet. With a grunt and a quickly cast spell, the stems grew to thorny vines, holding the monster in place as Chara moved to strike him down.

The monster screamed, pulling on the power of the human soul bound to his, and blasted the vines away, his flames leaping high. Frisk lifted her arms, calling the water from the floor and lifting it as a wave to crash over the fire monster. The fire monster dove to the side and Asriel used the opportunity to strike, sending a knife into the monster's shoulder. The monster shoved Asriel away only to find the water swirling up around him again, boxing him into a corner.

Hissing, the monster put up his arms to protect his face and dove through the water, coming up from a roll on the other side. Chara slashed at him, his sword singing as is sailed through the air, catching the monster across the chest and knocking him back into the water. The monster screamed, flailing against the onslaught. Asriel called the vines up again as Frisk pulled the water down, and Chara's sword went through the monster's chest.

The monster cried out once, before his body began to crumble, his soul hovering in front of him, a purple human soul resting inside. Asriel grabbed it out of the air, pulling the two souls apart. The monster soul shattered, while the human one came to rest in his hand. Asriel sighed in relief and fell back against the near wall, taking a moment to catch his breath.

Frisk fell to her knees, hugging herself. "So… so cold." She shivered violently.

Chara gasped. "Oh no." He knelt next to her, wrapping his coat around her. "It's okay. It's over."

Asriel's shoulders dropped. "She's gained LOVE."

Chara held Frisk close and kissed the top of her head.

Still shaking, she looked up at him, eyes filled with tears. "You know the shower and soak in the big tub together thing?"

Chara nodded. "Yeah."

"Can we… can we do that now? Will it make the cold go away?"

Chara's shoulders sank. "We can, but I don't know if it will help." He looked up at Asriel. "We need to get Frisk back to the room. The rose thorns cut her up. She'll need healing."

Asriel nodded. "I'll heal her. But first, I need to make it look like this guy betrayed us and left through the barrier." He walked over to the part of the wall where the souls were hidden, careful to punch through the wall in several places to make it look like it was found haphazardly. Forcing the hidden area revealed three vessels, but only two souls. "Oh no."

Chara looked over and paled. "One of the souls is missing."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Isadora waved as Undyne and Papyrus stepped off the boat. Both rushed to her.

"Yesterday, we saw-"

Isadora shook her hands, cutting Undyne off. "This way."

The three hurried along the riverfront, walking along a well manicured, cobblestone path, past restaurants and boutique shops that faced the river. Hanging planters filled with colorful flowers and trailing green vines decorated every lamppost long the way. With the exception of the one or two restaurants that offered breakfast, the storefronts were dark. Once they were to the furthest end of the riverfront were the underground waterway disappeared into a cavern wall, Isadora stopped.

Undyne, past patience, scowled. "We saw the kidnapper descend yesterday. What's going on?"

Isadora took a moment to catch her breath before speaking. "The guard brought him to the palace and after an altercation in the palace foyer, was taken to the dungeon. He escaped, stole the other three souls that were in containment, and left through the Barrier."

"And Frisk?"

Isadora nodded. "As far as I know, Lady Frisk is fine. Because of the incident, what's left of the guard is on high alert, and I didn't get a chance to tell the princes you were coming. Do you remember the map?"

Undyne nodded.

"Good. Because we are very likely to get split up." Isadora walked over to the railing and pointed down. "Just below the surface of the water here is the tunnel that feeds water into the pond in the palace garden. Another of our group tested it yesterday and said that the path was straight, but very murky as you came up to the pond. It takes about thirty minutes to swim it. I'll be waiting at the pond."

"THANK YOU, ISADORA."

Isadora nodded. "Do you need me to take anything into the palace for you?"

Undyne nodded and bent over to untie her boots. "Yes. Take my shoes." After handing the boots to Isadora, she put both hands on the rail. "See you soon."

She vaulted the rail, dropping into the water feet first. She fought the current for a moment before she saw the tunnel, one of several along the waterfront face. She swam into the tunnel and found a gentle pull in the water, taking her forward through a brick lined shaft. Once she was sure she was free of the river's current, she unzipped the legs of her pants, letting them float freely around her. She swam with the gentle pull, her fins extending from her arms and legs, long and gossamer in the water.

As promised, the way was straight, and became increasingly murky the further it went. Even so, her gills didn't find the filtered oxygen unpleasant. Undyne's eyes fluttered shut, letting her hands guide her forward, fingers sliding through the slime on the walls. She sighed at the feeling, her mind filled with memories of swimming in the family lake as a child. She'd have to take Frisk there soon. Once they were out of this.

Light hit her eye lids and Undyne opened her eyes to see a large pond with a school of orange and white koi swimming around. Staying down in the water, she looked around for Isadora. Spotting the rabbit, she waited for a moment, observing Isadora's posture. After determining that she was relaxed, Undyne surfaced slowly to keep from making more noise than the koi swimming around her.

Isadora unwrapped a large towel when she saw Undyne, carefully wrapping the fish monster. "After we get you dry, I'll take you inside. The guard is patrolling the halls, but they've left the gardens alone. It's still very early and Lord Chara is the only one likely to be awake. If we need to separate, just follow the map." Isadora held up Undyne's boots. "I also gave them a quick spray."

"They don't smell that bad, do they?"

Isadora shrugged with a sly smile. "You are a fish monster."

Undyne rolled her eyes. Her clothing dried quickly, having been made for a fish monster, and she zipped her pants down. After pulling on her boots, Undyne followed Isadora into the palace. Walking slowly and quietly, Undyne relied on Isadora's ears to detect members of the guard. Isadora stiffened and Undyne stepped behind a statue in an alcove, staying still.

A frog monster guardsman stopped on seeing the rabbit monster. "Hello, Isadora."

"Hello, Aron."

"Have you been to the royal brothers' room yet?"

Isadora shook her head. "No. I'm heading to the kitchen now to get their breakfast."

"If you, uh… If you know that there's something Lady Frisk really likes, you should get it for her. She was really scared last night."

Isadora nodded. "I will. Thank you, Aron."

The frog made a strange face, both smiling and frowning. "Lord Chara was in the kitchen in the middle of the night getting her tea. He acts like an ass about it, but I think he really cares about Lady Frisk." He gave the rabbit monster a half hearted salute before continuing his patrol.

Undyne waited for Isadora to signal her only to see her cut off a groan. Isadora leaned toward the statue and pointed down the hall, her ears twitching. Undyne nodded. Isadora pointed to a second hallway and nodded toward it. Undyne nodded again and the rabbit monster took off in the direction of the guard yet coming. When Undyne could clearly hear the Isadora talking to another guard, she slipped her hiding place and went down the second hall, following the map she'd memorized the day before.

Entering an empty hall with only one doorway in the middle, she crept up to it. Listening at the door for a moment, she heard nothing. She gently opened the door and slipped inside, closing it behind her just as quietly. And was slammed hard against the wall, a knife at her throat and an angry goat monster holding her still.

"A high level of violence and not a member of the guard or a Dreemurr? So who might you be? And you better answer quick, because I'm in no mood for games."

"Undyne!" Frisk called. "Asriel! Let her go!" Frisk, only dressed in the t-shirt she'd stolen from Chara rushed into Undyne's arms as Asriel stepped back.

"Frisk!" Undyne hugged Frisk tightly, sobbing with relief.

Chara trudged into the room, looking too tired. He pointed to Frisk. "What's going on?"

Asriel gave him a wide shrug. "I'd like to know that too."

Frisk stepped back from the hug, wiping her eyes. "This is-"

Undyne grabbed Frisk's shoulders. "Your level of violence!"

Frisk's smile crumpled and she shuddered, hugging herself.

Chara lifted the knitted blanket from the couch, wrapping it around Frisk. "It's been a very long couple of days." He nodded to the couch as Frisk turned to him, sliding her arms around him and burying her face against his chest. "Have a seat." He held Frisk for a moment before moving her to the couch, tucking the blanket around her.

Undyne sat, frowning deeply. "I'm Undyne Cichlid, Captain of King Asriel's Royal Guard."

Asriel raised a hand. "How did you get in the palace?" His jaw dropped. "There's a way in and out of the prison!"

"Yes." Undyne raised a hand. "I met with Papyrus and he arranged my entrance into the palace with Isadora. She was to let you know I was coming, but didn't have a chance. I swam up through the tunnel that feeds the pond." She reached over, resting a hand on Frisk's back. "What happened?"

"The monster my parents sent out to collect humans to drop into the prison happened." Asriel grimaced. "He's dust now, but it took all three of us to fight him."

Frisk sat up, shivering. "It's so cold." She looked to Undyne, tears in her eyes. "How do I stop it?"

Undyne sighed and hugged Frisk tightly. "It's something that will always be there. You can learn to manage it, and some manage it better than others, but it never truly goes away. I'm sorry I wasn't here to take it for you."

"No!" Frisk pushed her away. "I don't want anyone to feel like this! Least of all to protect me." Her shoulders fell. "I'm sorry."

Undyne smiled softly. "You don't need to be."

Chara poured Frisk a cup of tea and she took it, drinking quickly. "Can you get Frisk to the surface?"

Frisk glared at him over the cup. "We've been over this. I'm not leaving without you. Or Asriel for that matter."

Undyne sighed. "I'd like to say that I'm in a position to force the subject, and the King may give me a specific command on that note, but my orders are to open the prison." Undyne took a breath, sitting up straight. "With that in mind," she looked to Asriel, "I need to know where you stand." She looked to Chara. "And who you are, because 'Chara' is not a name on any list of missing persons I have."

Chara shook his head. "It's just Char-"

Frisk put a hand over Chara's mouth and turned to Undyne. "Christopher Nightfall."

Undyne's jaw dropped, eyes wide. "Evan and Carol's little boy?"

Chara pushed Frisk's hand away. "Will you please stop saying my name?"

Frisk looked up at him, a soft smile gracing her lips. "No."

Chara rubbed his head. "Why?"

"Because when the Barrier drops, I don't want you to forget who you are."

Asriel crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm with Frisk on that." He sighed, hands clasping in front of him as he leaned forward, and looked to Undyne. "As much as I want to say otherwise, I've long been prepared for the fight that will end my parents' lives. But we're talking more than just them and there are two very specific complications besides that."

Undyne nodded. "Go on."

Chara pulled Frisk close when she shivered, rubbing her back under the blanket. "Every member of the royal guard is chosen specifically for their willingness to harvest human souls. Captain Brine is the one who slaughtered the three humans we couldn't get to in time, hence his level of violence, but the rest of the guard's existence means the barrier remains shut."

"How many guardsmen are there?"

Asriel thought about it. "After last night, seventeen."

"And the two complications?"

Asriel replied, "The first is the souls in containment. When I smashed open the vessels to make it look like the retainer had betrayed us, only two of the three were present. Someone is walking around with a human soul and we don't know who it is."

"The other souls?"

"I released them and they ascended. The second complication is Dr. Gaster."

Undyne frowned. "Wing Dings Gaster is still alive?"

"That's just it. I don't know. He was locked into the basement level of the Lab when I was really little. I don't know that he's dead."

Chara shifted so that Frisk was more comfortable laying against him. "The person to talk to there is Papyrus. He's only mentioned it to me once, but he talked about working in the Lab with Dr. Gaster. He is likely to have a better idea than we do."

Undyne closed her eyes, doing the math in her head. "Then our first order of business is Dr. Gaster. I'll find out if he's alive and if he is, remove him from the equation. After that, I will call in a specialist to handle the guard. When she's finished, we'll discuss our next steps." Undyne reached over, rubbing Frisk's back. "Until then, can you keep Frisk safe?"

Chara and Asriel both nodded.

There was a knock at the door and Undyne stiffened. Asriel stood and opened it a crack, before letting the door open wide for Isadora to come in with breakfast, and shutting it tightly as soon as she was inside. The rabbit monster sighed with relief only to stifle a gasp when she saw Frisk. She left the cart behind, going directly to Frisk, and getting her to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get you dressed. I have hot chocolate on the cart. It will help with the cold." Isadora led Frisk back through the study and into the bedroom.

Undyne crossed her arms over her chest. "Is there a reason why Frisk is only wearing a t-shirt?"

Chara sighed, shoulders dropping. "Specifically my t-shirt and it's her way of punishing me."

"For?"

"I put my hands on her to sell it when I 'decided' to 'keep' her and for making a joke of her name to Asgore."

Undyne blinked. "And that's it? She hates it when people make a joke of her name. That's letting you off easy."

Chara gave her a sour frown. "There's more than that. The t-shirt is part of a much larger and full fledged attack." He looked back toward the study for a moment before looking to Asriel. "Can I have a second?"

Asriel held up both hands and nodded. "Yeah." He stood and went into study.

Chara turned to Undyne. "Last night, I woke Frisk out of a really bad nightmare and, convinced that it would make the cold go away," his cheeks went red, "she begged me to make love to her."

Undyne's head cocked to the side. "Did you?"

Chara shook his head. "No. I… I didn't want to take the chance that I'd hurt her in some other way." He looked up at Undyne. "Is what she asked normal? Would it have helped? I… I was a child when Asgore forced me to kill. I was too young to think like that so…" He sighed, eyes closing as his head dropped.

"Everyone reacts to a rise in LOVE differently. Some repress it, others wallow in it. Some fight through it and some seek help. Some love the feeling and others will try anything to make it go away. Frisk's reaction isn't unusual. It's not uncommon for adult humans, in the face of death, to grasp at life, and, like Frisk, seek to connect deeply to another and possibly create new life."

Undyne put a hand on her shoulder. "Would it have helped? Maybe? I don't know. It's not something I have experience with. As a monster, I don't experience LOVE the same way a human does." Undyne smiled. "But I'm glad you chose not too."

Chara's head rose, eyes on the fish woman. "You don't mean that in the 'preservation of an Everdawn' way. So, why?"

"I've known Frisk since she was a baby. So believe me when I say that she wouldn't have asked had she not believed you worthy of that trust. But I'm happy you didn't because it would have broken her heart should she have to walk out of this without you."

Undyne patted his shoulder once before leaning back. "On a different note... Papyrus?"

Chara smiled suddenly. "He fools everyone, doesn't he?" He stood and poured a mug of hot chocolate at the cart. "He doesn't look the part for anything. He runs a restaurant and he's a terrible cook. He's loud, wears ridiculous costumes, and always seems to be falling over himself to help. And because of that, he's exactly the man for the job. He's above suspicion."

He took a sip of the hot chocolate. "But don't fail to take him seriously. He does his job well, but I also chose him because he's strong enough to defend himself and anyone around him from the guard. In any sparring session, he knocks me silly with ease."

Isadora walked Frisk back in, fully dressed in layers of seafoam green skirt and tunic; Asriel just behind. Frisk sat down next to Undyne, hugging the fish woman tightly.

Undyne hugged her back. "Are you sure you won't leave with me?"

Frisk nodded. "I know what comes next. I won't let them do it alone."

Undyne nodded. "As you wish. Use a masking spell to cover the rise in your LOVE. I need to see Papyrus. As soon as Dr. Gaster's fate is certain, I'll arrange to meet with you again through Isadora."

Isadora came around to stand by the door. "I'll run interference for you to get back to the pond. I won't be able to meet you on the other side so," she held up a large, sealable bag, "I brought a bag for your shoes."

Undyne snorted softly and hugged Frisk one last time, holding her tightly before leaving with Isadora. As promised, the rabbit monster distracted any guard along the way, letting Undyne slip back to the garden and into the pond unseen. Coming up out of the water by the river, she found herself far from alone. Lots of fish monsters were playing in the river and the youngest of them splashed at her when she came up. She took a few moments to splash back, giving the children a big smile before taking Papyrus' offered hand up.

"I HOPE YOUR RETURN MEANS THAT ALL WENT WELL."

Undyne nodded. "Yes. And Chris- Chara told me to ask you for a specific piece of information."

"IF THERE IS ANY WAY I CAN BE OF SERVICE, I AM AT YOUR DISPOSAL."

Undyne leaned in. "Is Dr. Gaster alive?"

Papyrus frowned deeply, his voice suddenly dropping, "There are better places to have this conversation. And better people to have it with." He looked at his watch, his voice ratcheting back up, "YOU MUST MEET MY BROTHER! HE'S AT WORK, BUT WILL BE HOME FOR DINNER. I WILL MEET YOU OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT IN OLD HOME AROUND… SEVENTEEN HUNDRED HOURS?"

Undyne nodded. "That works for me."

He offered Undyne his arm. "SHALL I SEE YOU BACK TO OLD HOME?"

Undyne nodded. "Yes, please."

One swift boat ride, a walk in the woods, and a climbing of Watchtower later, Undyne came up into the cabin on Mt. Ebott. Pulling out her phone, she dialed King Asriel. He picked up before the first ring finished.

"Another report already?"

Undyne nodded and grimaced as she realized the futility of nodding while on a phone. "Who's with you right now?"

"No one."

"Okay. I have a lot to report and I need you to sit down for it, Az."

She could almost see King Asriel's eyebrow lift and heard the sound of a chair creak a little as he sat. "Sitting."

"I found Frisk. She's alive and safe for the time being. Prince Asriel and Lord Chara couldn't get to her in time to hide her with the other humans and have been keeping her with them instead. It started as a ruse to keep Frisk as a 'pet.' But Toriel wasn't having that and now Chara and Frisk are engaged."

"That escalated quickly."

"I made contact with the three of them this morning." Undyne took a deep breath. "'Lord Chara' is Christopher Nightfall."

There was the sound of something hitting the floor. "What… What did you say?"

"'Lord Chara' is Christopher Nightfall. He's been in the prison and running a plot to hide humans of serious proportions under the nose of Toriel the Reaper. From everything I've ever read about Toriel's prowess as a spy master, Frisk's father would be so proud right now."

"Oh my God…"

"His LOVE is… not good. Not up there with yours or anywhere near mine, but it's activated that part of him that is his birthright as a Nightfall. His eyes are already that deep, blood red it took Evan decades to acquire. And while that provides him with some protection against the worst effects, it's obvious that Asriel has been his strong support there. From what Chara said, Asgore forced him to kill when he was a child."

"I wonder why? If he was hiding that he was a Nightfall from Asgore, the change in eye color would have been its own dead give away… Unless Asgore knew who he was and was hoping to activate it." The king hummed thoughtfully.

"I don't even have a hypothesis for that."

King Asriel turned it over in his head. "Even during the war, the taking of a wizard's soul was something Asgore refused to do. I don't know if that's because, as a Dreemurr, he took his oath to the protection of the wizarding families seriously, or if he saw it as a future investment to their loyalty if he took the throne."

"It's something we might not ever know. Which brings me back to Frisk. Her LOVE has increased to a two."

"WHAT?!"

"The monster that kidnapped her slipped passed the guard on the mountain to find out why Asgore hadn't blown the prison open yet, after an altercation of some kind at the palace, the monster escaped confinement. Frisk, Chara, and Asriel took him down together, but Frisk came away with an increase in LOVE. Chara is helping her with it, but it's hitting her hard."

Asriel's voice changed and dropped low. "Helping her how?"

Undyne smirked. "Not that way."

King Asriel sighed audibly, his voice returning to normal. "And opening the barrier?"

"Something that has been an obvious point of discussion for Asriel and Chara in the past. At current, human hunters in the prison include Asgore, Toriel, the royal guard as a whole, and potentially Dr. Gaster if he is still alive."

"The son of Asgore and Toriel is interested in killing his own parents."

Undyne shook her head. "Not interested. Resigned. After destroying the kidnapper, Asriel found that they were missing a soul in containment. No one knows who has it. So with that in mind, I'm making Gaster the first priority and meeting with contacts who can give me information on whether or not he's still alive. After Dr. Gaster is dealt with, I am going to tap Muffet to handle the royal guard."

"Understood." Asriel hummed thoughtfully. "I take it that Frisk refused to be removed from the prison."

"You know that if an Everdawn decides on something, you aren't budging them, and Frisk won't leave someone in need, especially a newfound friend." Undyne sighed and then smiled a little. "Frisk and Christopher are in love, Az. I don't know if they've figured it out themselves, but… I've never seen Frisk smile that way before. Not for anyone."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Undyne blinked at Sans, trying to figure out how a skeleton could possibly be rotund. She resisted the urge to poke him and find out if there was a pillow stuffed under his white shirt. He laid on the green couch, boney arms behind his head, attempting to appear laid back in his blue hoodie, and only managed to come off as listless. He looked like he'd gone a hundred steps beyond worn out and didn't feel the need to hide it very well.

Undyne frowned. This was a monster who'd long ago thrown in the towel. So why hadn't he fallen down?

Papyrus groaned. "GET UP, YOU LAZY BONES!"

"*nah. i'm good right here, bro."

"YOU WON'T EVEN GET UP TO SAY HELLO?"

Undyne waved it off. "If he's not interested in getting up, that's fine. I just need information."

Papyrus frowned, clearly upset. "THE ISSUE IS NOT THE INFORMATION. IT'S THE WAY IN. THE LAB IS SEALED. IF YOU WANT TO ENTER, SANS MUST TELEPORT YOU INSIDE."

"*the lab's a terrible place. you don't want to go there."

Undyne frowned. "Is Dr. Gaster alive?"

Sans' pinprick eyes slid across his eyes sockets to look at her without turning his head. "*why's it matter?"

"Because the Barrier won't open if he's alive."

The smile on Sans' skull disappeared into a hard, thin line. "*you've got a lot more than him to take care of if you want the barrier open."

Undyne shrugged. "One step at a time."

Sans closed his eye sockets. "*and what's got your panties in a bunch that you want the barrier to open? or do you just want to see sunlight bad enough to murder your way to it? do you think the king up on the surface is interested in having a murderous monster running loose?"

"My orders are to open the Barrier. So you can say my boss has my panties in a bunch." She stopped. "Actually, don't say that. He'll think it's funny, but his wife will beat me to a pulp."

"*orders?" Sans sat up, eyes on Papyrus. "*yo, papyrus. who is this chick?"

Papyrus ignored the question. "I WANT YOU TO TELEPORT HER INTO THE LAB."

"*not happening." Sans eyed Papyrus. "*what's gotten into you, papyrus? you don't just bring some unknown monster around and say you want to get her in the lab. why don't you just take her?"

Papyrus huffed, annoyance rising. "YOU KNOW I CANNOT TELEPORT MORE THAN MYSELF."

Undyne looked to Papyrus and smiled a little.

Papyrus sighed, skull dropping. "NO. MY BROTHER DOES NOT KNOW."

"*what don't i know?"

Undyne nodded and sat down on the floor next to the couch, which put her on eye level with Sans. "I am Undyne Cichlid, Captain of King Asriel Dreemurr's Royal Guard. I was originally sent into the Ebott Prison to retrieve a human who had been kidnapped and smuggled inside via a previously unknown entrance. But the truth of the matter is that it's been three hundred years. The only reason the prison hasn't opened is the boss monsters. They are long lived and Asgore's refusal to give up on his ambitions keeps you all trapped here."

"*but if someone has smuggled one human into the prison, that means there are other humans..." He looked up at Papyrus. "*you've been hiding humans in the prison."

Papyrus nodded.

"*under the nose of 'toriel the reaper' and lord chara, the human hater?"

"LORD CHARA IS THE ONE WHO COMMISSIONED ME FOR THE TASK, UNDER THE NOSE OF THE QUEEN." Papyrus put both hands on Sans' shoulders. "PLEASE TAKE HER INTO THE LAB."

"*that still leaves asgore and toriel."

Undyne counted off on her fingers. "And the royal guard. As I said before, one step at a time. This is the step with the most unknowns, so I'm taking it first."

Sans looked up at Papyrus. "*you sure about this?"

Papyrus sighed deeply. "It's been over a century, Sans. If we can't end it, let someone who can."

Sans stood up. "*you ready for this? need anything to prepare?"

"What am I up against?"

Sans shook his skull. "*i don't know." He stuck his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. "I don't know if there's anyone still alive in there. when asgore sealed it up, he sealed it with magic. with all the staff who were there still inside. most would be dust by now, but you can't be too sure when someone's desperate."

"I'm ready."

Sans shrugged. "*follow me."

Undyne looked to Papyrus, and received a nod. When Sans turned, she stepped after him and was suddenly standing in an elevator lobby for a very old elevator.

"That was quick."

Sans jerked an elbow toward the elevator, refusing to take his hands out of his pocket. "*take the elevator down. it goes into the lab. if you find any keys, grab 'em. you'll need 'em."

Undyne sighed. "So when are you going to say it?"

"*say what?"

"That you don't want me to kill your father."

"*dr. gaster isn't-"

"I know what a skeleton monster looks like, Sans. And Wing Dings Gaster is a figure of history."

"*then you know his wife died before the war started." Sans sighed. "*we're clones. some of the staff saw us as an experiment. others saw us as children he couldn't otherwise have. but the closest of his followers knew what we were: an apology."

He disappeared and Undyne entered the elevator, sending it down.

The elevator creaked to a stop, the cage gate rattling. Pulling the gate back, Undyne pushed the outer elevator open into darkness. Clicking on the flashlight revealed a stairwell in concrete. Something shuffled in the darkness below and she paused, taking a moment to flick the safety off on her gun. Stairs led into an open storage room, construction materials littering the floor so that she had to carefully step over bags of concrete mix, rolls of wire, and wooden beams.

Light streamed through an open doorway across the room and Undyne made her way to it, pushing open a door made of metal bars with a grating sound. The shuffling noise ceased as she came into a fully lit room with more construction materials; beams, ladders, wheelbarrows, and large metal barrels. On the other side was another cage elevator.

The elevator only went down, opening on what appeared to be a contractor's onsite office. A large table took up the middle of the room. Workmans' lockers lined the left and forward facing walls. On the right was a map. Undyne paused for a few minutes, taking out her notebook and jotting down the map. Once she was reasonably sure she had enough detail, she took the door next to the map out of the room.

A roar echoed in her ears and Undyne only had a moment to duck the mass of flesh that swung at her. Rolling away, she came up in a crouch and her jaw dropped. A creature that looked like four humans shoved into one mound of burnished yellow flesh swung at her with one of several bone thin arms. She rolled to the side, coming up spear ready and not knowing where to hit it. Grimacing, she switched tactics, summoning several spears up through the floor to impale the creature at several points. It's cries stopped, the body collapsing on itself in a pile.

"What the hell?!" She stared down at the thing, gasping to catch her breath. It made a weird sound like the meat inside was being squished by its own weight. No cold overtook her and she found her breath. "No rise in LOVE. Why not? Where you not really alive to begin with?"

Undyne pulled out a knife and cut the mass of flesh open only to rear back, coughing as she choked on the putrid smell. Inside, she could make out the bones and entrails of humans.

Tearing her eyes away from the fleshy mass, she found that she was on a railed walkway over a large pit area. The pit was filled with debris and your everyday trash. Taking the walkway to the other side of the room led to another stairwell down past the pit. Undyne pulled out her flashlight as she got to the bottom, finding a waterway filled with murky water. She frowned and let herself down, feeling for the bottom with her feet and finding that the water only just touched her thighs.

She hurried through the water looking for the split in the tunnel she'd seen on the map and taking the turn to the right. Something slithered past her legs in the water. Not wanting to take the chance that whatever was in the water would dunk her, she booked it for the platform at the end of the waterway. The water sloshed loudly behind her, as something reared up out of it. Refusing to look back, she leaped for the platform, catching it with her hands and heaved herself up.

A slick, brown tentacle wrapped around one of her ankles and she crashed to the platform. Grabbing her knife she slashed at the tentacle and it let go of her, letting her scramble away from the edge. She looked back, and wasn't sure what she saw swimming away in the darkness. Only that it was big and covered in bloody pustules. She turned away only to hear a roar behind her as the thing rushed up against the platform, slamming into the supports. The metal creaked with the impact, the concrete cracking under her. Falling to her hands and knees as the platform swayed, Undyne crawled for the stairs leading away, jumping for them like a frog as she got close and the platform collapsed underneath her. Running head long up the stairs, she only slowed down when she was sure she was far enough away that a tentacle couldn't grab her.

"What the hell is going on down here?!" she gasped, bent over at the waist, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She looked back the way she'd come. "I don't think that thing was alive either. So what makes them walk around?"

She went up the stairs, entering quiet hallway. The emergency lighting was on, though one light flickered on and off continuously. Two doors lined the hall on the right. Taking a moment to listen at each one, she tried the knobs. The first was locked. The third opened on a neat and very tidy office with a single desk and a bunch of filing cabinets. The walls were bare of decoration and there wasn't anything personal on the desk. Undyne tried the drawers on the desk first and found a key marked with an enamel blue star. Turning to the cabinets, Undyne went through them. All drawers were cleaned out except one, which had a single file folder. Inside was a series of lab reports written in a spidery hand.

Undyne read through them:

Entry Number One:

_The Doctor got his hands on a human soul! I don't know how. I don't think anyone knows. It didn't come from King Asgore. The Doctor won't talk about it. He's hiding a way out of this hell hole. I know he is!_

Entry Number Two:

_The Barrier is locked until all the monsters who have harvested human souls have died. Which means we're never seeing sunlight again. Asgore is young for a boss monster. He'll see a thousand and I'll be a pile of dust. The only way out is to harness the power of the soul. The Doctor thinks he can harness it._

Entry Number Three:  
_The Doctor is working on several projects all at once, so it's hard to know what his progress on any one of them might be. He's most interested in the clones he made of himself: two more skeleton monsters. Neither of them seem like the Doctor at all. They're both smart though, even if they don't act like it._

Entry Number Four:  
_The Doctor built this huge machine for extracting the power from the human soul. It's this monstrosity of cables, wires, and metal. Looks like a big animal skull. _

Entry Number Five:

_The machine works! The Doctor called the extracted material 'Determination.' The soul has lost its color. Instead of the bright red it was before, it now looks dark. It doesn't move on it's own anymore. The Doctor put it in the Lab's generator and now it powers the Lab. _

Entry Number Six:  
_The Doctor used the extracted Determination on a coworker that had fallen down while working in the Lab. After a few days, it woke up and started walking around, talking to everyone as if nothing had happened. The Doctor used the same procedure on several other monsters._

Entry Number Seven:  
_Shit! Those things! They're melting!_

Entry Number Eight:

_Several of the staff have been fused together with the melting monsters. I don't think monster bodies are meant to handle the power of a human soul. It took several of us in Hazmat suits to push all the amalgam monsters into the lower level of the Lab. The Doctor's clones are hiding, sneaking around the Doctor. We've all been doing the same. He's been looking at everyone strangely. Like we're potential subjects for the next experiment._

Entry Number Eight:

_Something happened between the Doctor and Asgore. Now we're all locked in here. We can't find the clones. Maybe they got away?_

Entry Number Nine:

_I haven't seen the Doctor in a while. I've also been hiding. We're running low on food._

Entry Number Ten:  
_What day is it? What year? I don't remember. Can't remember the last time I ate. _

Entry Number Eleven:

_Somebody is dumping human bodies into the Lab via a chute none of us knew was there. I think I'm small enough to climb up it._

Entry Number Twelve:  
_I can't get out._

The entries ended there. Undyne took a moment to compile the information.

"Human bodies? So this is where the humans who died were being dumped. If the things I ran into are any indication, the Doctor, or someone still dedicated to the work, might still be down here." She hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe they're being injected with 'Determination' and that's what's making them get back up."

Undyne closed the filing cabinet and went back to the door. Listening carefully for a moment to be sure it was clear, she went back into the hall and tried the key on the other doors. It didn't work. Snorting, she stuffed the key in a pocket and kicked the door in. The wood splintered and opened on an office in shambles. Photos on the wall were smashed, the cabinets on the floor dented so as to be completely ruined, and a fine gray dust coated the paper strewn desk and floors.

She grimaced. "Looks like a couple monsters snuffed it in here."

Careful to gather the dust on the desk and gently pile in together, she looked over the papers. They were all covered in strange symbols that reminded her of hand gestures, though she couldn't place why. Sighing, she headed out the door and down the hall to the door at the end. It creaked as it swung open into a room filled with long dead computer banks and a pair of thick metal doors that lifted via a power coupling. She pulled the lever and the door didn't budge.

"Hmmm…" She reached down and attempted to lift the door. It refused to budge. "Guess I need to get the power back on."

Using the flashlight, Undyne followed the line of wires from the lever to the ceiling and over to a box on the wall. After fiddling with the switches inside a bit, the power to the door kicked back on with a loud beep. She pulled the lever again and the door slowly rose.

A massive, red hand, shiny and slick, fingers ending in six inch long claws reached under the door and slammed it open. A creature with half a discernible human face, the other half a mess of what might have been a horse monster's head, swiped at her with the clawed hand. She ducked the swing, and the creature spun around, unable to control the momentum. It's body was severely over encumbered on the right side, the clawed hand needing a huge arm, but the left side was underdeveloped and the left arm flopped uselessly.

Undyne ran past the thing for the door, heading into an area filled with columns that didn't reach the ceiling and scaffolding from some previous construction project. A railed mezzanine jutted out from the far wall. Climbing the nearest scaffolding, she ran across a narrow wooden plank for a column. The creature turned and ran full force into the column, shifting it.

Undyne jumped to the next column, giving the room a look. "So these things aren't exactly stable."

She jumped to a column that was nearest to a wall. Sliding down between the wall and the column, she whistled loudly. The creature swung around several times before spotting her and charged. Putting her feet on the column and bracing her back against the wall, she pushed with everything she had. The column rocked away from her, overbalanced and toppled on the creature, smashing it against the floor. Undyne dropped to the floor, dusting off her hands with a smirk.

The creature shrieked and heaved the column off of itself. It had a curved indent in its chest from the column and that didn't appear to be hampering it in the least.

"Well, fuck." Undyne took off for the scaffolding while the creature climbed to its feet. It dashed after her as she climbed the scaffolding, slamming into the metal bars, bending them and causing the scaffolding to come toppling down. Undyne kept climbing, reaching the top of the falling scaffolding and using it to jump on top of a column. The column swayed beneath her and she jumped to the top of a second as the first one fell over.

Looking around, she spotted a mezzanine and made for it, leaping from the column as the creature slammed into it. Jumping from column to column, Undyne realized that the creature hadn't smashed into the last two. Looking down, she saw it going for the last column next to the mezzanine, cutting off her escape.

Summoning a glowing spear, she paused and threw it with everything she had, embedding it in the mezzanine. Making one last jump, she avoided the last column, landing on the spear and using it to springboard herself onto the mezzanine. She gave herself too much lift and ducked to roll across the mezzanine rather than smack her head and shoulders on the hard concrete. She lay there for a moment, catching her breath.

And then the mezzanine shook. Inclining her neck slightly, she saw the creature's huge hand come up, grabbing the edge of the mezzanine.

Undyne scrambled to her feet and ran for the door at the end of the walkway. She quickly turned the knob, only to have it refuse to budge. Grunting, she slammed her shoulder against the door, once, twice, three times as the mezzanine rattled under her feet. The door jamb splintered on the fourth slam and she sailed through the open door as the mezzanine came down. The creature howled in furry, jumping for a door it couldn't reach, it's claws scraping the wall.

Undyne's legs went out from under her and she sat down, shaking as she tried to get her breathing back under control. Once she was calm, she noticed that she was in a very clean and orderly observation room, the electricity working perfectly. Several chairs lined a window that looked into the room she'd just escaped. A coffee and tea service cart rested near one wall, but the pots were empty and the mugs dusty.

She pulled out her notebook and checked the map she'd drawn. Finding the room she was in, she made a note about the mezzanine's destruction and marked where the creatures she'd found were. Looking out the window, she watched the creature stamp around the room, it seemed to have forgotten her. Turning away, she tried the door out of the room and found it unlocked.

It led into a brightly lit and clean hallway painted white with a single green stripe running along either wall. At one end of the hallway was what appeared to be an elevator. At the other end was a reception desk and a set of glass doors into a gleaming hallway filled with open doorways into large spaces. Heading quietly for the desk, Undyne looked it over, checking the drawers and finding a set of janitorial keys. She attached the keys to her belt.

The glass doors opened smoothly and closed quietly behind her. They didn't look as if they had a locking mechanism on them at all. Looking around, she didn't see any slits for a gate to slide down or across the area and block it off either. Stepping carefully to muffle her footsteps, she stopped and looked in each room as she passed: conference rooms, a lounge, a cafeteria, large office spaces. Everything was empty and spotless, as if it had all just been cleaned.

At the end of the hall was a heavy door with a blue diamond in the middle, 'Laboratory' painted in crisp letters over it. Undyne fished out the key with the blue diamond on it and unlocked it. The door gave a hiss and multiple locks hidden within the door came undone at once. Instead of opening inward, the door slid away, revealing a room designed like a large shaft around a glass elevator. Walkways from each side of the room connected to the elevator which went up two floors with the same walkway layout. Each walkway led to a laboratory on each level.

Undyne pulled out her notebook, checking her notes. "The map said that Dr. Gaster's personal lab was on the third level…" She frowned at the elevator and stepped inside, not seeing any other means to ascend. Each level required a key to activate the button for that level. Pulling out the janitorial keys, she flipped through them to a set of three elevator keys. The first one she tried lit the button for level three and the glass door closed, the elevator taking her up.

On the third level, Undyne looked around and noted that the four walkways led to an office, an apartment, a laboratory, and back into the building proper. She checked the office first. It was huge, open, and white. There was a single desk and an outdated computer that had long died. A long row of filing cabinets took up the majority of the room while shelves of books lined the walls.

Checking the apartment next, she found a space that had once been lived in, but was now dusty from disuse. The apartment had three bedrooms and it was obvious that two of them had been designed for small children who'd aged in their time there. Toys meant for toddlers were lovingly placed next to textbooks. Family photos hung on the walls depicting two, young skeleton monsters engaged in this or that activity. A few of them depicted other monster children as well, several of them making silly faces for the camera.

Undyne smiled, lifting one of the photos. "Papyrus and Sans made for some cute kids. Looks like they had a pretty normal childhood, all things considered. No wonder Sans didn't want me to come down here." She took a few minutes to take some of the photos out of the frames and slip them in her notebook, paperclipping them in tightly.

She sighed as she put her notebook away and turned to the final laboratory. "Well, Doctor. If you're here, you're in there."

The door into the lab was locked, but a key on the janitorial ring had it open quickly enough. The door opened on a reception desk with a sign in sheet. The last date on the sheet was one hundred and twenty years ago.

"Even after you were locked in, you tried to keep up normal for a while, huh?"

Undyne walked past the desk to the single door into the lab beyond. She opened the door, stepping through, and immediately stepped backwards out of it. Looking away from the inside, she leaned against the wall sucking in huge breaths of air so as not to vomit.

"That… that's something I'm gonna have nightmares about." She took one more deep breath and let it out slowly before shaking herself out.

Ready for it this time, she went into a room covered in rotted human body parts, the putrid smell thick and heavy in the air. A grisly mass of flesh, blood soaked deep into the tiled floor underneath it, moved rhythmically, like it was breathing. Bones protuded from it at various places and it appeared to have been melded into the wall.

Undyne approached it slowly. "What is this thing?"

"*don't get too close. it will suck you in and spit you back out a monstrosity somewhere else in the lab."

Undyne turned. Sans stood behind her, hands in his hoodie pockets, staring at the ground.

"*i uh… don't tell papyrus this, but i… i come back to check on him from time to time."

"So Dr. Gaster is alive."

Sans motioned to the back of the room. "*there's a hidden room behind the cabinets in the back. he's in there."

Undyne nodded and turned to the cabinets.

"*you took the photos from the apartment."

Undyne paused and looked back at him. "I thought you and Papyrus might want them. Have you been following me the entire time I've been down here?"

He shook his skull. "*no. just guessed on when you'd get here."

Undyne sighed. "So you dropped me as far from my goal as you could in the hopes that I'd turn back?"

Sans shuffled one foot, staring at the floor. "*i don't know."

Undyne smiled softly and put a hand on the skeleton's shoulder. "It's okay. I get it. You have a lot of memories. A lot of happy memories and they don't erase the sad. That's all right. That's actually wonderful. For a monster in a bad way, good memories can see them through." She patted his shoulder. "You don't have to be here for this."

"*actually, i do."

A glowing white bone struck the back of Undyne's head and she hit the floor, unconscious.

Sans sighed, his left eye alternating between a blue and yellow glow. Summoning several bones, he sent them into the monstrosity melded into the wall. The mass of flesh and bone deflated as it blackened. The cry of every creature roaming the lab filled the air with a cacophony of agony before settling into nothing, each one dying. Sans turned to the cabinets.

"SANS?"

"*you know? i was so lost, just waiting to die, that i didn't even notice that my little bro was running around, making the world a better place. it doesn't matter to you that all those humans meant we could finally see the sun. you just keep doing the right thing, even when it's the hardest thing."

"REMEMBER WHAT DAD SAID? YOU CAN'T BUILD ON A GOOD IDEA WITH EVIL ACTIONS. IT'S LIKE WATERING A PLANT WITH POISON."

Sans nodded and walked over to the cabinets, pushing them aside to reveal a hidden door. "*you uh… you get her back to the house. the key ring she's got will let you take the elevator up to new home. i'll finish this."

"SHE IS FINE FOR THE TIME BEING." Papyrus' hand landed on Sans shoulder. "WE'LL DO THIS TOGETHER."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Muffet picked up the phone at the end of the first ring. "Spider Bakery! Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders. All proceeds go to help real spiders!"

"You're up. Prepare yourself for seventeen hostiles in a heavily decorated, palace environment requiring complete stealth. Meet me at the cabin on Mount Ebott in two hours."

Muffet nodded once. "Yes, Captain."

As soon as Undyne hung up, Muffet leapt to her feet and clapped her hands, her employees gathering around her. "I've been called up, dearies. Take good care of the shop." She looked over her shoulder at the photo of Frisk smiling on the front page of the newspaper sitting on the counter, the details of the kidnapping outlined underneath. "I'll be taking good care of this."

Exiting the counter area for the back, Muffet put her hands on the wall and climbed up to the hole in the ceiling that led into the second floor and her bedroom with its lavish, four poster bed, fluffy, spider silk sheets, and luxurious window dressings, all in shades of purple. Opening a white wardrobe edged in gold leafing, she pushed the clothing aside to reveal a mechanism that opened a false back. Reaching under her blouse, she pulled out an amulet that marked her as a very special member of the royal guard and placed the amulet in the mechanism. The mechanism turned on its own, opening the back of the wardrobe.

Muffet smiled, clapping her hands softly. Within the wardrobe was her favoritest of attire: a specially made, completely white, guard's uniform. She tossed her red and pink bakery uniform aside and quickly donned the white pants, white boots, white shirt, white gloves, and a white, hooded coat. Removing the clothes revealed an arsenal of lethal weapons and Muffet was quick to arm herself with an array of daggers, throwing knives, and a whip wrapped around her waist. Turning once to be sure all was properly hidden on her person, she called for a ride to Mount Ebott.

Dogaressa was the one to pick her up and guard dog eyed Muffet in the rearview. "Well, that escalated quickly. What are the details?"

Muffet leaned against the door, hand holding up her chin as she looked out the window. "The Captain hasn't given me any specific details beyond seventeen hostiles." She blinked, all five eyes closing and opening in succession. "Any word on Frisk?"

"Nothing official."

"Anything unofficial?"

Dogaressa shook her head. "Nothing unofficial either."

Muffet frowned. "Then let's hope that I'm being called in for rescue and not revenge."

LOVE, for Muffet, didn't work the same way it did for other monsters. Spider monsters often killed and consumed each other as a matter of course, so what caused them to gain LOVE had more to do with how they felt about their victim. The indifference of killing for food, killing in self defense, or, as was often the case for Muffet, on orders as a soldier, didn't raise her Level Of ViolencE. Killing in anger would, hence the twinge of worry.

Muffet was very fond of the Everdawn daughter who had once called her 'Boss;' often with a salute, happily wearing the bakery's garish uniform as a teen. Though it was inevitable that Frisk would one day serve the royal family entirely in any capacity deemed necessary at that moment, Muffet still felt the sting of the day Frisk gave notice. Morning light had entered the bakery for a short time and when Frisk left, that hopeful light followed her out the door.

'Ever dawn' indeed.

Dogaressa dropped her at the perimeter being kept by the guard. Showing her badge, Muffet entered and began the climb up to the cabin. The royal guard was all over the mountain, several staked out at a seemingly unimportant cave entrance. Once up at the cabin, she could see the area around the mountain completely and noticed a large grouping of guardsmen, city police, and community workers at the Barrier. And even without seeing him, Muffet knew King Asriel was there.

Muffet entered the cabin and found Undyne standing in the kitchen, rubbing her head. "Are you all right, Captain?"

"Yeah. Just a headache from being knocked out."

Muffet blinked. "Someone… got the drop on you?"

The fish woman shrugged. "It does happen."

"Concussion?"

Undyne shook her head, her red hair swinging. "Thankfully, no." Undyne led Muffet back to the elevator. "As soon as we enter the prison, I want you to go completely into stealth mode and follow me. I will take you to Asgore and Toriel's palace. From there, you will enter the palace grounds and eliminate all members of the royal guard. I want their disappearances to be swift and clean so it looks like defection or betrayal. No piles of dust left behind."

Muffet nodded once.

"There are seventeen members of Asgore's guard, including Captain Brine, a dark green lizard monster with a white face. All wear the same standard uniform: navy pants, navy button down, and a black coat with silver detailing."

Muffet looked up at Undyne, unblinking as a the elevator descended. "Frisk is dead then."

Undyne smiled. "Frisk is alive."

Muffet sighed in relief, eyes closing and her neck bent. She smiled softly. "Is she safe?"

"Yes. Asgore and Toriel have a son named Asriel and an adopted human son named Chara. When Frisk was dropped into the prison, Asriel and Chara were able to safeguard her and have been engaged in an operation designed to hide humans dropped into the prison. You may see her at the palace and if you do, do not engage unless her life is in danger from one of the guard. Keep in mind that she is an Everdawn and very capable at getting herself out of dangerous situations."

Muffet nodded, smiling a little."Removing so many at once is likely to cause quite a bit of chaos."

"That's the idea. When you've finished, you'll find me at the public library just down the street from the palace. Tap my shoulder and I'll bring you back to Watchtower."

Muffet grew silent as they entered Watchtower's control room, ignoring the outright looks of dismay from the four on duty. It did not bother her that other members of the guard found her uncomfortable to be around. What they thought of her was none of her business.

That said, Muffet knew the rumors that swirled about regarding her and her past exploits. She was quite famous and even celebrated in some circles. In others, she was held in fear and loathing. Even among monsters, there was a certain fear of spiders and in the shadows of the Dreemurr empire, she crept with state approved freedom when called to service. And while her service was kept deeply under wraps, a matter of state secrecy, it irked her to no end that her quieter skills meant no member of the guard, save Captain Undyne, would visit the bakery for a doughnut or scone.

She descended Watchtower behind Undyne, noting that some of the rooms going down had humans in them, many of them talking to members of the guard and counselors.

"Are these humans who were previously hidden in the prison?"

Undyne nodded. "A few of them have been here a long time and have married monsters. They have chosen to remain, which is why you were called up. The King wants the Barrier open and to make that happen, the guard, Asgore, and Toriel need to be eliminated."

Muffet thought about that. "Wasn't Wing Dings Gaster also a boss monster? Wouldn't he still be around."

Undyne smiled sadly. "He met his end yesterday."

"Your LOVE has not increased. Perhaps he was not as strong as the history books say."

Undyne shook her head and then grimaced, wishing she hadn't. She massaged her temples. "His sons destroyed him." When Muffet said nothing, Undyne continued. "Someone down here is walking around with a human soul bonded to them. If it's in one of the guard, retrieve the soul and we'll release it from the top of the mountain."

Muffet nodded.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Muffet's magic suffused her uniform. After a few moments, she was a barely detectable blur against the background, and anyone who noticed that blur would be singularly disturbed, looking to flee rather than be curious. She followed Undyne through the forest to the town of Old Home and the dock on the river. A swift ride had them at New Home quickly and Muffet walked behind Undyne as smoothly as possible to minimize the strange sense of movement her invisibility could garner, and careful not to bump into anyone in the growing crowd. They stopped momentarily in front of the public library, Undyne looking it over with interest, though it was really about indicating to her unseen companion where they would meet when finished.

Muffet frowned when they reached the palace. The crowd of New Home had completely thinned out here to a few monsters who hurried by quickly, no one stopping to admire the beauty beyond the gates. Looking around for guards, she saw none. Muffet touched the gate, feeling through it for magic and found nothing; a sign of long having lived with nothing but monsters who are very unlikely to be duplicitous. Crouching a little, she leaped the gate, landing soundlessly on the other side. She looked back and found that Undyne had disappeared, going back to the library.

Looking back to the palace, Muffet took a moment to catalog the entrances and windows. Several windows on the second floor where open. She walked slowly across the open courtyard to put her hands on the white walls of the palace and climb to an open window on the left. Peeking inside found it empty. Entering the window, she crawled up to the ceiling and exited into the hallway.

Muffet smiled when she found the first guardsman. She followed him from her upside down crawl on the ceiling. He made his way in a circuit of the second floor before heading down the stairs for an office in the servants' hall. Inside the office, he made a report and she waited for him to leave before looking inside. A large, dark green lizard monster with a white face, and missing one eye frowned over the paperwork on his desk. His uniform marked him as Captain Brine.

When Captain Brine looked down, Muffet silently crawled into the office and anchored herself over the desk. Next to the Captain's elbow was the sentry schedule and a layout of the palace marking the routes the guards were to patrol. All of the routes were centered around protecting two rooms: the royal suite and the princes' suite. She studied it while the Captain wrote a report long hand.

A guardsman entered the office. "Prince Asriel and Lord Chara have left for their engagement at Sothos. Lady Frisk has remained behind. She hasn't left the suite."

The Captain nodded.

"There's talk among the men that we should harvest her soul now, while Lord Chara isn't here to protect her."

The Captain threw his pen across the room. It shattered when it hit the dust gray wall, splattering ink. "You idiots! Let's suppose, for half an instant, that her screams wouldn't alert Their Majesties, when Lord Chara returned to find his pet a corpse, we'd all be dust!"

The Captain stood abruptly, his chair crashing to the floor. "Let's get this straight: as things stand, our best ticket out of here isn't to find more human souls but to breed them. Lord Chara and Lady Frisk make a mating pair of humans and that you want to destroy one of them for… what? Exactly what do we gain? Get out of my office!"

As soon as the Captain turned to right his chair, Muffet dashed out of the office after the guard. Following him led her to an austere sitting room with a group of nine guards. She carefully worked her trap above them while they spoke.

"The Captain isn't on board."

"What?! Why not?" A duck monster threw one wing to the air. "We take her now and one of us can go through the Barrier and collect more! We wouldn't even need to wait. We could just blast the thing open from the outside!"

"Oh yes," sneered a cat monster, "like we could trust you to not just run off the moment you were free."

Muffet dropped to the floor, laying almost invisible spider silk around their feet.

"The Captain proposes we wait for her and Lord Chara to breed."

"That's… No." A ferret monster shook his head vehemently. "I won't do that. I'll harvest an adult, but a child? No. Not happening."

"All the more reason to take her now!" a snake monster hissed. "She's unprotected and we aren't left with the prospect of murdering infants."

"And what about Lord Chara?"

"It's not as if he truly cares for her," a dog monster stated.

"I don't know about that. He was in the kitchen in the middle of the night the last two nights making her tea."

"It doesn't matter how he feels about her, we will be killing his pet and even with all ten of us, we don't stand a chance against him."

"No. You don't stand a chance against me." Muffet dropped her trap, coating all ten of the guardsmen in thick webbing from above and lifting them in one movement from the silk below. The thickness of the webbing muffled their cries as she quickly turned all of them to dust. The webbing caught the dust, holding it tight. Muffet gathered the webbing together in one big sack.

After gently closing the door, Muffet dragged the sack to a heavily curtained window. Moving the curtain a bit to reveal the wall, she knelt, and cut open a small hole in the wall, moving aside the plaster. Carefully pulling and twisting the webbing, the sack became a long, wiggly tube, and she fed it into the area between the inner and outer walls, leaving the insulation as the final resting place of the treacherous ten.

"Seven more to go," she whispered as she replaced the plaster, sealing it shut with some sticky silk threads. Standing, she returned the curtain to its original place.

Muffet checked the corridor before leaving the room and crawling up to the ceiling. Remembering the map, she started following the route to the royal suite, picking off guardsmen as she went and hiding their dust in places that would go unnoticed for a very long time, if at all. She was down to two guardsmen when the sound of voices in a small family dining room caught her ear.

Looking inside, she saw Toriel the Reaper sitting at a small dining table eyes on a newspaper. The entire room was entirely too decorated for her liking, and Muffet clung to the wall above the doorway to listen without entering.

Toriel sat with her hand over her mouth, reading the newspaper in her hand. Muffet angled herself to get a better look and found it to be a copy of the Daily Gazette from the surface. The front page a story about the gathering army of royal guard and social workers on the side of the mountain preparing for the imminent opening of the Barrier. An orange rabbit monster poured a cup of tea for Toriel, setting it gently on the table.

"Are you well, Your Majesty?"

Toriel set the paper down, angling it so the rabbit monster did not see the cover story. "Isadora? I want you to gather the staff. Tell them that as soon as their current task is completed, they are to leave the palace and not come back."

"You're sacking us?!"

Toriel sighed. "The staff have long served us and done so with great care and infinite love. You in particular have been a great source of comfort to my sons, serving them in multiple capacities over the years first as a nanny and later as their chambermaid. And while I know that much of your love for them stems from Chara protecting your children from a momentary lapse of reason on the part of a guardsman, I know that you would have given them just as much of yourself had the incident never occurred at all."

Toriel folded the newspaper so as to hide the front page. "Asriel and Chara must soon confront their father. I want none of you to be caught up in that fight." She stood and walked out the door, Isadora following behind. Muffet quickly followed behind, crawling along the ceiling silently.

"Madam! Please wait!"

Toriel shook her head and continued to the throne room, walking through the garden Asgore had made of the otherwise useless room years ago to the hallway beyond. There was no court for which a throne room was necessary. Opening a long unused door, Toriel stepped on the wide path that went up to the Barrier. The way was empty, normal for midday. Come evening, the path would be filled with monsters looking to enjoy the twilight that filtered through the Barrier and covered the area with its own distinct calm. Muffet waited at the door, watching.

Toriel stopped at the edge of the Barrier, looking into the strange, gray hallway that seemed to go on and on into the distance, with a small light coming through. She turned around, looking down at the rabbit monster. "In the parlor off the servants hall are several gifts, each labelled for a member of the staff, their spouses, and their children. Please distribute them." She knelt in front of the rabbit. "I hope that, in the coming days, you will have the freedom you all deserve."

Toriel handed the newspaper to Isadora. The rabbit monster let it fall open in her hands, staring down at the headline.

Toriel turned around, facing the Barrier. She sighed deeply. "Goodbye, Isadora." She stepped through the Barrier and disappeared.

Muffet chilled.

"So you were the one who had the missing human soul. I need to find Prince Asriel and Lord Chara." She shook her head. "No. I need to find Undyne." Isadora looked down at the paper in her hand, eyes on the photo of the gathering on the mountain side. "Then again, you won't escape either."

Isadora rolled up the paper and went back inside the palace, locking the door behind her. She stopped in the throne room, eyes watchful for guardsmen. Not seeing any, she frowned. "Where have they all gone?" Shaking her head, she continued on to the servants' hall and passed the guard's office.

Muffet paused at the voices inside.

"What do you mean you can't find them?" Captain Brine snarled.

The Whimsalot raised both hands, shaking them. "I can't find them anywhere in the palace! I've looked everywhere! I can't find _any_ guards in the palace!"

"Did you check the Princes' suite?"

The Whimsalot backed up, wings fluttering hard. "N-n-n-n-no."

Captain Brine threw the desk out of his way in his rush for the door. As soon as the Whimsalot was alone, Muffet dropped from the ceiling, dispatching him quickly, and caught his dust in a web, carrying it with her as she chased after Brine on foot. The lizard monster ran on all fours through the hall, body undulating in a hypnotic and thoroughly terrifying way. He crashed through the halls for the princes' suit, throwing anyone or thing out of his way, before bowling into the room.

Frisk, dressed in layers of light browns and dark blues, jumped to her feet, her embroidery hitting coffee table. "Captain Brine!"

He stopped dead in his tracks, mouth of sharp teeth hanging open. "Your LOVE…" His lips pulled back into a sneer. "So that useless trash escaped through the Barrier with the other souls, huh?"

Brine stalked forward, throwing the plush chair in his way into the near wall with a crash.

Frisk didn't flinch, staring the lizard monster down with a steady gaze of disdain. "You'd think a monster like yourself would be happy to have revenge for the loss of an eye."

Brine paused and Frisk's arms went up over her head. A glowing, violet ring of magic erupted behind her. She brought her arms down and the ring let off an energy blast around her, striking Brine full in the chest. He hit the wall with a hiss, but landed on his feet, easily dodging Frisk's next blast. Muffet threw webbing at the lizard monster's feet, and he stumbled over the carpet, only just managing to get out of the way of Frisk's next blast. He leaped for Frisk only to be hit mid air with several webs, knocking him off course.

Frisk blinked, looking around. "Muffet?"

"Focus, Dearie!"

Frisk squeaked as Brine rushed up in front of her. Forgetting where she stood, she stepped back and fell onto the couch. Captain Brine hit the couch hard, tipping it over backward, and both combatants rolled across the floor. Muffet threw out a web, grabbing the Captain and muscling him backwards, her camouflage fading out.

"That fire monster wasn't lying was he? You are an Everdawn! With your soul alone, I can break open the Barrier!"

Frisk found her feet, wiping the blood that trickled from her split lip. "And I can make it happen faster with your death."

Brine roared and slashed at the webbing. The tension suddenly gone, Muffet fell backward and Brine pounced Frisk, grabbing her by the neck before she could raise another spell.

"He said he dumped thirty-two humans into this hell hole! Was that true as well? Speak up! You shouldn't die with such a dirty secret burdening your soul!"

Frisk grasped at the lizard's hand, kicking desperately at him as she gasped for air. The lizard monster's smile faltered as he watched Frisk fall, his arm falling away from her throat from where it had been cleanly severed mid-bicep. Brine howled in pain, falling to his knees, before lunging for Frisk, the claws of his other arm striking her chest and digging in, bones crunching. Frisk gasped harshly, only to cough blood. Muffet screeched, her knife coming down again to severe the lizard monster's head from his neck.

"Frisk!"

Asriel and Chara rushed into the room, Chara lifting Frisk to cradle her in his arms. Asriel knelt next to them, his hand lifting and eyes glowing red.

"Stop!" Muffet dropped her knife to grasp Asriel's wrist..

"She's dying! I can't let her-"

Muffet shook her head. "It's all right. It's painful to watch, but…"

There was a flash of light as Frisk's soul appeared, two pieces, severed down the middle. The split pieces fused into a whole as the wound on her chest closed as if nothing had happened. Frisk gasped, body lifting as her eyes flew open. They closed just as quickly and Chara caught her, cradling her against his chest. Her soul returned to her body.

Muffet pushed her hood back. "This is the power of the Everdawns. They cannot die from anything but old age. It's why a monster must never bond with her soul. They'd be unstoppable."

Frisk's eyes opened a little, a tired smile on her lips. "Hey, Boss."

Muffet giggled. "You haven't called me that in forever." One of her six arms reached out, hand gently touching Frisk's cheek. "How do you feel?"

Frisk blinked. "Better than the last time this happened."

Chara's jaw dropped. "The last time?!"

"Will you be safe with these two?"

Frisk nodded. "Yes."

"Good. I need to report to Undyne. I've taken care of the royal guard in total. But that is less important than this: Toriel has sent away the palace staff and has exited the Barrier. She expects her sons to finish Asgore."

Asriel and Chara looked at each other. "She had the missing soul."

Muffet stood, pulling her hood back up and, disappearing, rushed out of the palace by the nearest window. The building was empty but for five souls; the staff gone, the palace guard dead. Muffet found Undyne at the library and tapped her shoulder. Instead of letting the fish woman lead her away, Muffet gently pulled Undyne to a quiet nook, removing her hood.

"Your LOVE increased."

Muffet nodded. "Captain Brine hurt Frisk and I dispatched him with a deep anger." The spider shook her head. "But that lacks importance. Toriel stole the missing human soul. She exited through the Barrier after dismissing the palace staff."

Undyne frowned. "Then the quickest way to her is through Asgore."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

For the first time in 300 years, Toriel Dreemurr saw the sun. She shielded her eyes from the bright, midsummer light, blinking against it. Dazzled by the day star, she heard rather than saw the the members of King Asriel's royal guard surround her. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw a world of lush green trees, a beautiful and modern city in the distance, the ocean meeting the horizon beyond, and a team of uniformed monsters and humans surrounding her, none the least bit intimidated by a boss monster with a bound human soul.

The soul in question railed at her from within, seething with a terrifying malice. "Let go of me, you conceited bitch! You took me from my children! If you think for a moment that I'm going to let you use my power to hurt anyone, you'll find yourself sorely mistaken! Let me go!"

Toriel's hand landed on her chest, barely able to contain the awful hate. It was so different from the war so long ago. The souls harvested then were not so quick to anger, being soldiers who knew the penalty of death. Those souls had been ripped out of the monsters who'd taken them before being shoved in the prison.

But this? This was not someone for whom an early death was a sure promise. This was a woman who'd been peacefully watching her children play in the yard when she was taken. And the shattering of that peace had been enough to make her soul powerful enough to fight back; to be filled with a determination that could cry out and shatter the sky. Toriel knew, if she attempted to tap that power, it would backfire, and she would be dust.

Her plan to use this soul to power her way through the soldiers on the mountain and make a bid for the Dreemurr throne had been a pipe dream at best.

King Asriel approached. "Unbind the soul."

Toriel shivered in the presence of the king. "Parley."

Asriel snorted, clearly amused as his arms crossed over his chest.. "Do you really think you're stepping off this mountain alive?"

"No. I want to assure the future of my sons and as a Dreemurr, I am allowed the parley."

The soul's hollow laugh filled her mind with a black sickness. "Oh yes! A great future! You left them to die at their father's hands!"

"Those laws were abolished after Asgore abused them to his advantage." Asriel turned away. "Unbind the soul and follow me."

Toriel sighed, and with more relief than she cared to admit, released the soul. The soul hovered in front of her for a moment before shooting away, going wherever it was that human souls went after death. Feeling suddenly lighter, Toriel followed after the King of All Monsters to a grove of trees. The guard followed her, all still ready to take her down at the slightest command. They were a well disciplined team, so unlike the unruly and easily provoked guard she had cultivated, much to Asgore's displeasure.

In the grove, Toriel took a moment to admire her nephew. He'd grown considerably from the young goat who'd fought alongside his father in the war so long ago. Asriel had been blessed with incredible strength and courage, and though she'd lied to herself about it 300 years ago, had Asgore succeeded in taking down the king, he would have fallen to Asriel's superior might and iron will. When she'd discovered newspapers from the surface in the dump, she'd read them voraciously, following along as her nephew grew older, wiser, married, ascended the throne, and eventually had children.

But looking at him now, she understood why Asgore's bid for the throne was doomed from the start. She'd understood from the war what a monster bonded with an unwilling human soul could end up looking like if the monster was not strong enough to control it: twisted and vile; a horrifying entity of destruction. But King Asriel Dreemurr appeared tireless and uncannily beautiful. A human soul rested within his and the two worked in a deep partnership. She wondered briefly who that good friend was, but decided that it didn't matter. She'd made her bed. It was finally time to sleep in it.

Toriel sighed, looking around at the wildflowers that grew at their feet. "You've chosen a very pretty place for my dust. I like it very much."

"Does Uncle Asgore still garden?"

Toriel smiled, nodding. "He never wanted to appear weak, so it was always through me that his wishes came, but he turned as much of the prison into a garden as he could. And, many places in the cavern were made into their own small paradise that way. The throne room is nothing but a garden. There's no court to hold so he ripped up the floor and filled it with flowers."

Asriel smiled softly, his black lips pulling up a little. "Your sons."

"I have two sons. Asriel, the oldest, is the singular fruit of Asgore and I. The youngest, whom Asriel called 'Chara' to hide his identity from his father, is Christopher Nightfall. Both of them have a considerable Level Of ViolencE. Their LOVE was forced on them by Asgore, at first as a test and later as a continuous need to assure their dominance over an unruly 'royal guard.' Christopher has done much to shield Asriel from needing to take lives for his own safety as much as Asriel has done much to shield his brother from the worst effects of that LOVE."

Toriel smiled wryly. "They both, rather cunningly I might add, have protected the daughter of Everdawn who was kidnapped and dropped into the cavern. I ask that you consider these things when they are presented before you."

"You offer nothing else as evidence in their favor?"

Toriel frowned. "I have nothing else to offer. But protecting an Everdawn from certain death should be more than sufficient to safeguard their lives."

Asriel smiled,leaning in a little. "Toriel the Reaper, the great spymaster of the Iron Bark War has nothing else to offer to her sons' defense?"

Toriel looked up at him, confused as Asriel's smile grew. "I…"

"How many humans were kidnapped and tossed into the Ebott Prison by your count?"

"Twelve."

Asriel looked to the white dog monster at his side. "Dogaressa, I want it noted that Asriel Dreemurr and Christopher Nightfall's operation to hide fallen humans in the prison was a rousing success."

Toriel's jaw dropped. "What do you...?"

Asriel chuckled. "Thirty two humans were kidnapped and dropped into the prison. Your sons successfully retrieved and hid twenty of them in the prison over a ten year period. Frisk was the one they couldn't get to in time to secret her away."

Toriel's gasp came out as a chuckle, eyes looking to the ground. "Have they really?" She smiled tears filling her eyes. "And here I thought I was the only one who truly knew everything that happened in my meager domain…"

"Based on the reports We've received from the humans we have been extracting from the prison, Christopher takes after his great grandfather, Darian Nightfall, who at current, is celebrated as the best spy We have ever had in Our employ. He ended two wars while waltzing behind enemy lines with ease. And Asriel takes very much after you, a spy of such skill, your methods are still studied today. To have not just one, but two people of that caliber in Our service would be a great boon."

Toriel sighed deeply, half bent over in relief.

"What was your purpose in forcing an engagement between Christopher and Frisk?"

Toriel's eyebrow quirked and she stood up straight. "Wait… How do you know about…?" She growled. "There is another way in and out of the prison!"

Asriel nodded once. "And even with you being unaware of it, you still managed to run a rather devious scheme to kidnap humans under Our nose." He put his hands on his hips, head lifted tall. "My question stands. Just as it was three hundred years ago, it is the same today. The marriage of any member of the wizarding families is a matter of state, especially that of an Everdawn. What was your purpose?"

Toriel frowned deeply. "I decline to answer."

Asriel's eyes glowed softly. "You don't have a right to decline. Answer the question."

Toriel huffed. She looked away for a moment, attempting to fight the magic behind the command, and then looked back with a deep sigh, unable to lie. "Knowing that the child of such a union would make for an incredibly powerful soul, I planned to make the child's death appear as an instance of sudden infant death syndrome, take the soul, and use the power to ascend your throne."

The glow in Asriel's eyes jumped fiercely before fading out. "Well, you did marry into the family. No one can expect you to hold to the Dreemurr's solemn protection of the wizarding families." He stepped forward, taking Toriel's hands in his.

For a moment, the urge to fight welled up inside her, only to pass away. She'd let her last chance to escape pass her by when she didn't take a soul and leave at Frisk's appearance. "I told my eldest that I named him so as to be a stand in for you. The truth is, I named my son after you in the hopes that he would be would grow to be as strong and wise as you."

Asriel smiled softly. "Goodbye, Aunt Toriel."

Toriel closed her eyes, her soul lifting out of her body to hover between them. "Goodbye."

Below the mountain, Frisk sat quietly in Chara's arms while he shook, her hand gently rubbing his arm while he held her tightly. Asriel disappeared to find Frisk something to eat, and while time was of the essence, he knew Chara needed to be alone with her. The goat prince walked the empty halls of the palace, heading for the servants hall and the kitchen, occasionally stopping to upright something Brine had knocked over in his mad dash.

He froze at the sound of voices coming from the front parlor. Carefully peeking inside, he found Isadora looking up at his father, a huge pile of gifts on the floor behind her.

Asgore looked over the pile of gifts. "Isadora? Where has everyone gone?"

The orange rabbit monster shrugged without turning around. "If you're asking about the guard, Your Majesty, I have no idea. Her Majesty bid me send the staff away before she..." Isadora trailed off eyes on the floor.

"She left through the Barrier.'

"She left this for the staff before she sacked us." Isadora kicked the box with her name on it and it crashed into the wall, crumpling as it hit the floor.

"Such bitterness. Tori has always treated you well."

"It's not about me."

Asgore sat on the floor so that he and Isadora were eye level. "It's about my sons, isn't it?"

"Always. It's always about them. She just left them behind to face you alone." She turned to Asgore. "Her betrayal means nothing to you?"

"It was only a matter of time." He smiled softly. "She wasn't the only one reading papers from the surface. The only reason she waited so long was how much she enjoyed being a queen. No such life awaited her on the surface. She could have escaped long ago and chose not too. That she chose to go now is it's own miscalculation. She will not escape the gathering on the mountainside."

Isadora gasped. "Then you know about-!" She covered her mouth with both hands.

"Frisk? Yes."

Isadora deflated. "Then why didn't you harvest her soul?"

"She is an Everdawn. As a Dreemurr, safeguarding the wellbeing of the wizarding families is my privilege. I know that sounds strange coming from 'Asgore the Ravager,' but even during the war, harvesting the soul of a wizard was not something I would allow. If I had won the throne, I needed their trust in that matter and keeping the Dreemurr oath would assure that." He shrugged. "And Frisk's soul is more than powerful enough to consume any monster that would try to bond with it. I would cease to exist."

Isadora found her fury. "Then if you know about her, you also know about Chara. Why did you force him to kill? Why?!"

Asgore sighed. "Christopher's unique ability as a member of the Nightfall family had yet to be awakened and that was the surest method by which to bring it about. I knew that, so long as that part of his soul remained dormant, he was always in danger from Tori." He smiled apologetically.

"She presented it as giving Asriel a brother."

Asgore shook his head. "That was her story after the fact. Her orders were to take a Nightfall whose power had not yet awakened knowing that many Nightfalls never come into their true power and such a soul would be enough to open the Barrier alone. That Chara was a child and Asriel found him first was a miscalculation."

Isadora frowned, eyes on the floor. "I don't know which of the two of you is lying anymore."

Asgore nodded. "I don't ask you to believe either of us. It isn't fair to do so. We've both stewed in our lies for more than three hundred years."

Isadora looked up. "The guard is gone, Toriel has runaway, and I am sure that Dr. Gaster has met his end."

Asgore gave her a faint smile and patted her shoulder. "Then I am the only thing standing between my subjects and freedom."

Asriel shivered, hands coming up to cover his face as he leaned back against the wall. His breath came out in a whisper, "I'm not ready."

Isadora's ears went up, and she put her hands on her hips, eyes blazing. "No. I'm not letting you do this to Asriel. Chara may shrug it off, but Asriel loves you. And if that means I'm the one who has to fight you, I will."

"No one has to fight me, Isadora. That's not how this is going to end."

Asriel's trembling hand covered his mouth, tears filling his eyes.

Isadora shook her head, her ears falling down. "What happened to your ambition?"

Asgore shook his head. "It left me a long time ago." He stood and offered her his arm. "Will you walk with me, Isadora? I'd like to see my garden."

The rabbit monster nodded and slipped her arm around his. "All in all, you weren't a bad king. The constant intrigue between you and Toriel I could have done without."

Asriel quickly hid behind an overly large vase in the hall as the two came out.

"Tori thrived on that sort of thing. She was surly when she didn't have it and as time went on, and we had less and less of our original followers to play her game, I had to fill in, not that it made either of us happy."

"You said you wanted to awaken Chara's power. I've never seen him use magic, and Toriel was very clear that he never learn it from any from the staff. So what is his power that it was enough, even untrained, to keep her at bay?"

Asgore nodded thoughtfully. "Just as an Everdawn is a light that always rises with the sun, a Nightfall is a darkness that covers the world at the end of the day. And even untrained, my son's power infuses him, cloaking him in a darkness that comes to his aid without fail. It makes his sword strokes sure and powerful. The right words always come to his lips. And the cold breath of LOVE that infuses him, can never consume him."

Asgore opened the door to the throne room, holding it for Isadora before following her inside. Asriel snuck up to the door, looking inside through the sliver left open. The room was filled with a variety of blooming flowers in a riot of colors, the floor having been ripped out long ago and topsoil dragged in from the doorway to the Barrier. The throne had long ago been removed and replaced with a simple park bench.

Asgore sat on the bench, admiring the garden. "Thank you, Isadora. Now if you don't mind. I'd like to be alone for this part."

Isadora sighed deeply and nodded, leaving the room and pulling the door shut. She jumped, but managed not to squeak when she saw Asriel. The goat prince stood there, hugging himself and Isadora put her arms around him, squeezing him as tightly as she could.

After a moment or two, she patted his back. "Come on, Asriel."

"I…"

"Come along." Isadora drew him along.

"He's my father!"

Tears slid down the rabbit monster's cheeks and she dragged Asriel away. "We all must make this passage at some point in life, Asriel. Come along."

Inside the throne room, Asgore sighed at the sound of his son's sobs. "I'm sorry, Asriel. But you've long been able to stand on your own."

Asgore stood and reached into a pocket hidden in his cape, withdrawing a bag of monster dust. "I may no longer have my ambition, but that doesn't mean I am interested in dying." He opened the bag, looking at the collected dust of so many of his followers. "The lot of you have one last thing to do for me."

He opened the bag and scattered the dust over the flowers, enough for a full grown goat monster. The bag empty, he folded it neatly, and placed it back in the pocket of his cloak. Chuckling softly, he turned away, walking carefully through the flowers to a set of large flower boxes set against the wall. Activating a hidden switch behind long overgrown vines, the boxes lifted easily, revealing a hidden passage out of the throne room. Asgore descended into it.

As the flower boxes descended, Muffet launched herself from her hiding place on high ceiling, landing on the flower box and quickly crawling underneath it. Before it shut completely, she shot a blob of webbing at the vines, leaving an indicator for Undyne, knowing her Captain would be quick to follow behind.

Crawling along the rough hewn ceiling of a stairwell descending into a deep darkness, Muffet followed Asgore. The goat monster lifted his hand, a flame spurring to life in his palm. The fire's light lit his way along an unfinished floor of dirt in a shaft that was just big enough for him. After what seemed like ages, the tunnel let out into a cavern gallery filled with massive and beautiful columns of stone. The river that disappeared into the cavern wall in New Home, continued here, meandering through the middle of the gallery.

Asgore followed along the river bank to a natural bridge of stone hanging over the water. Muffet dropped soundlessly to the floor as she followed behind Asgore. The goat monster crossed the bridge heading upwards toward a rocky area filled with green grass and trees reaching up toward the sunlight streaming through a large hole in the cavern ceiling. The trees that grew here were large and sturdy, easily taking Asgore's weight as he climbed.

Unwilling to risk an escape, Muffet threw several strings of webbing, catching Asgore and pulling him back to the ground. Asgore hit the ground and rolled to his feet, looking for his attacker. Muffet remained still, invisible against the cavern wall. A glowing, red trident appeared in Asgore's hand as he carefully moved around the rocky area, eyes searching.

He turned from Muffet and she leaped into the air, reaching for a long dry stalactite. Asgore caught the sudden change in the look of the rock out of the corner of his eye and threw the trident on instinct. It caught Muffet's coat, shredding it as it knocked her to the ground. She rolled to her feet, her camouflage fading away.

Asgore's eyebrows went up as Muffet pulled four daggers from inside her coat. "A specialist? I was unaware that my nephew was willing to use the spider kind. Would you be what happened to the guard?"

Muffet said nothing, choosing instead to throw webbing at the trident, and swinging it hard, embedded the weapon deep in the rock wall.

Asgore nodded appreciatively of the move, even as he fell into stance. "Your kind were less than welcome among the Royal Guard, when I walked under the sun. I doubt things have changed. Why serve a master who only calls when the fight must be dirty?"

"Frisk is my friend."

Asgore paused, visibly shaken. In the blink of an eye, Muffet was on him, daggers finding the weak points in his armor, cutting the straps that held it in place. The metal protecting him fell to the ground as Muffet leaped up and away, grabbing onto a dry stalactite. Asgore growled and grabbed his trident, ripping it from the wall. An explosion of rock followed, the stones flying through the air. Muffet lifted one arm to shield her eyes.

He turned, loosing a volley of fire balls at the spider and Muffet jumped for a thicker stalactite, hiding behind it. Asgore tossed the trident lightly in one hand, changing his grip and pulling his arm back to throw it like a spear for the stalactite. His arm didn't move. He looked back only to have Undyne's fist connect with his snout. He let go of the trident, stumbling backwards.

"I'll thank you not to throw things at her." Undyne took the trident, and, forcing her magic through it, snapped it over her knee. The trident's red glow faded and she threw the pieces behind her. They clattered against the rocks, coming to rest in the silent grass.

Asgore frowned, "You would be Captain Undyne, correct?"

"I am."

"Your reputation precedes you."

Undyne raised her arm and a glowing spear formed in her hand. "So does yours."

She lunged at him with the spear and he leaned backwards enough that it didn't catch his throat.

Undyne spun around, using the momentum to strike at him again. "You've obviously had this little escape plan for a while. Why wait to use it?"

Asgore caught spear mid swing. "I wasn't going to leave my sons alone with Toriel."

Undyne sent a surge of power through the spear and Asgore let go of it, hissing. "And now that she's gone, you think you can sneak off too?" She pulled the spear back, repositioning and lunging forward again, bringing the spear around.

Asgore ducked under the spear, rolling forward and coming up with the breastplate Muffet had cut off him, holding the cut straps to use it as a shield. He blocked Undyne's next two blows, backing up to the pieces of his broken trident. He reached down for the pieces, only to find them gone. Looking up, he saw Muffet holding them. Growling loudly, he bull rushed Undyne with the breast plate, slamming into her and knocking her against a rock.

He lifted the breast plate, looking to bring its edge down on Undyne's neck. Muffet's web caught it and she pulled as hard as she could, fighting to keep Undyne from an early grave. She was no match for Asgore's strength and he easily dislodged her from the stalactite. Muffet let go of the breast plate in order to catch herself with a web. Undyne slammed her spear into Asgore's chest, hitting his soul. The goat monster froze in place, his eyes rolling down to look at her as his body began to fade, slowly turning to dust.

"What a sorry win. Two on one."

Undyne pulled her spear back. "It's not about winning. It's about being of service to my king."

Asgore's dust spread out among the grass, his cracked soul hovering for a moment, before shattering completely. Undyne shivered and shook herself. Breathing in deeply, she let the breath out slowly, letting the cold that came with a rise in LOVE cover her before gently pushing it away. Muffet let herself down to the cavern floor only to grab the nearest large rock as the ground began to shake.

Above them, the earth let out a groan before the quaking stopped, and the Barrier shattered.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Isadora came into the room with a cup of tea and found Frisk and Chara holding Asriel while he wept.

"They couldn't have just stood their ground and faced the consequences of their actions! Nooooo! They both had to slink off like cowards and leave me to pick up after them!"

She set the tea down. "The Barrier is open."

Asriel snorted. "I noticed." He wiped at tears that were a mixture of sorrow and anger. "I also noticed something else. I never thought about how I was going to explain it to everyone. How do you tell all the monsters in the prison that their long captivity was ended when their 'beloved' king and queen died? How do you tell them that everything they know of the surface is a lie?"

Frisk squeezed his hand. "For right now, it doesn't matter. You only need to lead them outside."

Isadora gestured to the door. "The foyer is filled with the monsters of New Home."

"I don't care." Asriel sniffed loudly. "I thought I had the will for this, but I don't."

Isadora shook her head. "You may not have had the will to end your parents and there is much to be said to your credit for that. And you may not have had a plan for the Barrier opening. But you do have the will for this." She took his hands in hers. "We are waiting for our prince to lead us out."

"I'm not a prince. That was a sham and you know it," he growled.

"You're our prince."

Asriel shuddered, eyes squeezed shut. Then his breath went out in a long sigh and he stood. "All right then. Let's go." He paused for a moment, looking down at himself before nodding, satisfied with the vest over simple button down and slacks he wore. He walked out of the room, Isadora following.

Chara helped Frisk stand, putting an arm around her waist. She'd changed out of the torn and blood splattered dress a while ago, but Chara still flinched as if he could still see the wound.

Frisk gently put her hand on his chest. "Hey. It's okay."

"No, it isn't."

Frisk sighed, hand dropping, eyes on her feet. "Listen. I get it. You aren't the first person to be completely freaked out by it. I've lost a lot of friends over it. So… yeah." She sniffed and wiped at her watering eyes with the back of her sleeve.

Chara grabbed her arms. "No! I don't mean it like that!" He sighed, looking away. "I'd willingly spend the rest of my life in the nightmare of lies Asgore and Toriel created if it meant no one ever harmed you again."

Frisk leaned against him, placing her head against his chest. "But then, it would mean that I'd wouldn't get to be with you."

"Don't say things like that." Chara sighed. "The Barrier is open. Even if, by some miracle, I'm not put to death, the privilege of our bloodlines comes at the cost of our personal freedom."

Frisk looked up at him. "Is that why you don't want your name?"

He huffed, smiling a little. "We've been over why. This is just another thing added to the pile." He stepped away, and offered her his arm. "Come on. It's hard enough for Asriel. Let's not make him wait."

Frisk nodded, sliding her arm in his. They left the room and went to the grand foyer, where the doors had been thrown open and the monsters of New Home filled the room and gated plaza beyond. They all talked loudly, each trying to be heard over the growing din until Asriel put up a hand and they all went silent.

Asriel looked over the monsters who waited, eyes wide, for the sun. "This is going to be a logistical nightmare."

Frisk nodded. "We'll work on phasing it. Get it so that everyone has a chance to walk outside as soon as possible and then move it so we can move people out in an orderly manner."

Chara frowned. "Not everyone will want to leave. We'll have to think about how to handle that as well."

Isadora shrugged. "Well, it's not as if they have too, right? I highly doubt the cavern is just suddenly going to fall in on itself." She looked at Frisk. "Right?"

Frisk opened her mouth, and then closed it quickly, thinking about it. "Let me check that." She held out her arms to the crowd. "Give me some room, please!"

Several monsters moved back, picking up the children to keep them from being underfoot as they made a wide circle. Frisk took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she stepped into the middle. Several violet rings of power ran along the floor, encircling Frisk. With another breath, she pushed them into the ground, feeling her way through rock, sighing with the heat of the magma, shivering with the cold of snow, and exhaling with the slow decay of Old Home. Her magic flooded the cavern, filling every space, touching every surface. A tiny town of monsters hidden in the forests of Snowdin wondered at another snowfall. A crowd of monkeys played in an ancient ruin of a city hidden deep in Waterfall. Undyne and Muffet climbed a ladder made of spider silk out of some hidden part of the cavern. The magic rushed back to her and Frisk teetered a little, but managed not to fall as the violet glow subsided.

"Even with the quake caused by the Barrier breaking, the cavern is fine. All parts are stable." She looked at Asriel. "There are whole sections of this place no one has ever explored."

A little lion monster in a striped shirt, walked up to Frisk, putting both paws on her skirt. "I've never seen magic like that before!"

Some in the crowd yelled. "Lady Frisk is a wizard!"

One of Isadora's rabbit children ran up to Frisk. "Did you open the Barrier?"

Frisk blinked, remembering the vision of Undyne and Muffet, leaving the cavern, the dusty remains of a monster in a bag tied to Undyne's hip. She smiled softly. "No. Such a thing is beyond my power."

Asriel reached down and picked the child up, giving her a smile. "Lady Frisk did not open the Barrier, but her coming here started the process by which it would." He looked over the crowd. "Make a path for me to lead you. It's time for us all to see the sun."

The crowd parted, Asriel walked down the middle, carrying the little rabbit with him. Isadora smiled and followed behind, the rest of her numerous children hopping after her. The crowd fell in behind them, sweeping Frisk and Chara along. The crowd marched behind Asriel as he left the gates and made for the large path that made the way to the Barrier. Several monsters waited there, many too nervous to go past the opening, into the sunshine beyond.

Asriel stopped at the edge. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the crowd. "There will be no rushing. Everyone with a small child," he looked down at Isadora, "or several." Isadora smiled. "Pick them up to keep them from being trampled. Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

Asriel looked out over the crowd to New Home, eyes on the palace. "Then let's go." He turned and stepped into the sunlight.

Isadora's children ran past him, hopping onto the grassy mountain side with wild abandon, laughing loudly even as the brightness of the sun dazzled their eyes. One jumped high and landed in someone's arms with an oof. Blinking away the brightness, the child gasped at the stately, black, goat monster that held him gently.

"There's monsters on the surface?!"

King Asriel's eyebrows went up. "Of course there are, little one. There are many monsters up here." He handed the child to Isadora when she came up. "Would this one be yours? He's got quite the high jump."

Isadora took the child in her arms and curtsied low, shivering a little. "Your Majesty."

"You would be Isadora, correct?"

Isadora stood bolt upright, eyes wide.

The king lifted his hand. "I did not mean to frighten you. You happen to come up in the intelligence reports as someone who was of great assistance to Asriel and Christopher and then to Undyne, even in the face of great personal danger."

Isadora smiled and curtsied again. "It is an honor to be of service to the men who stood between my children and death."

Asriel blinked away the brightness, and a found a large group of monsters and humans waiting for everyone to come out of the cavern. His eyes settled on the king and he shivered. Setting down the child in his arms, he bowed low. The king stepped up to Asriel, and, placing his hands on the young goat's shoulders, lifted him up. The king's hands came up to Asriel's face, looking him over with a soft smile, before touching foreheads for a few moments.

"Finally, I get to meet the youngest of my cousins."

Asriel blinked. "I… I guess we are related. I hadn't thought about that." Asriel swallowed. "You are way more impressive than Frisk described. It's…" His eyes squeezed shut before opening again. "It's kind of hard to look at you."

The king smiled and stepped back. "The shine wears off after a bit."

Frisk ran up to King Asriel, and gave him a swift curtsey before launching herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, lifting her a little to swing her back and forth.

"You have no idea how happy my girls are going to be to see you!" He set Frisk down.

Frisk pushed at him. "Probably not as happy as my parents!" She hugged him again.

"I was speaking for both of us."

"Ooh! You meant my mom too!" She smiled. "Hello, Grandpa!"

"He says he's glad to see you." The king's hand gently passed through her hair. "Undyne said you were having trouble with the cold."

Frisk frowned. "I…" She looked back at Chara, smiling a little. "I've had a lot of help."

"Speaking of help." The king looked over their heads to the crowd of monsters coming out of the cavern. "We've prepared for this, but We require a few people Our new subjects trust to shepherd them through the process." He looked down at Asriel and Chara. "Can I count on the two of you for this?"

He placed a hand on Asriel's shoulder. "I know it is a lot to ask, considering the circumstances required for their freedom. You are free to decline, but it will give you something to keep your mind occupied."

Asriel took a deep breath and nodded.

Chara looked between them. "Wait. I don't understand. There's no way you're unaware of our LOVE and what that means."

King Asriel raised an eyebrow. "I am aware. I also have quite a bit on intelligence on your actions in the prison and the success of your decade long operation to hide kidnapped humans dropped into the prison." He stood tall, lifting his head, arms crossing over his chest. "Your level of violence, the monsters you killed in self defense and the defense of others, this is a burden We would expect of anyone in Our Service to carry should they be called to do so. As a Nightfall come into his power, it is something you may yet be uniquely tasked with as a wizard born to Our Service."

He raised an arm while speaking. "And, separately from that, there is no way I would take Evan Nightfall's son from him a second time." He raised one finger. "But there does remain the matter of you having put your hands on an Everdawn, having Frisk act as your pet, and sleep in your bed. Regardless of your doing so to shield her from death, these are not acts that can be overlooked."

The king turned to Frisk. "As the victim, you may choose his punishment."

Frisk's head whipped up, eyes wide as she looked up at her king. His lips curled just a bit deviously as he nodded for her to step forward.

Frisk snorted softly, catching his drift. "I guess this is my only shot at having a choice, huh?"

King Asriel nodded.

Frisk sighed, smiling a little, and stepped up to Chara. He shifted uneasily as Frisk lifted her left hand, watching the light shine off the pink diamond set in the engagement ring. She pulled it off her finger and held it out to Chara.

"I think that, being forced to spend the rest of your life with me, is exactly the punishment you deserve."

Chara let out a held breath on a choked chuckle. Taking the ring in his hand, he got down on one knee. "I'd rather a ring I chose."

Frisk waved it off. "We can discuss that later. Hurry up and accept your punishment."

Chara caught her hand with a smirk, holding it gently. "Frisk Everdawn, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

She smiled, trembling a little. "Yes."

Chara slid the ring on her finger and stood, Frisk stepping up to him. He gave her a wry smile. "We've only known each other for all of a few days. You could be making a grave mistake."

"A few days in a very intimate situation where you showed your true colors. I'll take my chances." She patted his chest as she turned away.

Chara spun her back toward him, and kissed her, his lips catching hers, his hand at the back of her neck. Frisk sighed, melting against his chest, lips parting for him.

Undyne came up to stand next to the king. "Woah! Looks like I made it in time for the fireworks."

King Asriel cocked his head toward her. "Not yet you haven't."

Frisk's arms slid up, clasping around Chara's neck when he pulled back, rubbing his nose against hers.

Evan Nightfall came up the path only to gasp. "She is an Everdawn! Unhand her this instant!"

"Now it's time for the fireworks."

Chara lifted his head with a glare only to look away and step back.

Frisk grabbed his hand, squeezing it. "It's all right."

"No, it isn't." Evan and Chara said at the same time.

Evan frowned at the phrase in stereo, but turned to Frisk, hugging her tightly. "I finally have news that you're not only alive, but safe, and I get here just to find- Ow!"

Frisk smiled up at Evan while she mashed her foot into his toes. "Done talking? Good! Evan Nightfall, I wish to present to you my fiance." Frisk stepped back and took Chara's arm, turning him forward. "Christopher Nightfall."

Evan's anger drained away, face going pale. "Christopher…?" He reached out. "Is it really you?"

Chara stiffened and stepped back, only to find Asriel behind him, keeping him in place.

"I'm not letting you run from this," Asriel whispered.

Evan's hands came up, touching Chara's face. "It is you!" He hugged Chara tightly. "You… You've grown so much. You look like your mother."

Chara's eyes closed, tears running down his cheeks. "I'm sorry…"

Evan pulled back. "Why?"

"I'm not-"

Asriel cut him off, a hand over his mouth. "No! I won't let you cut yourself off from your family!"

Chara turned to him. "But-"

"It doesn't matter! God dammit, Chara! I lost my parents today!" Asriel sighed, his fire leaving him. "I'm not letting you lose yours."

Frisk took Chara's hands in hers. "They've been praying for this miracle for so long. It's all right."

Chara shook his head, hands balling into fists. "I…" He turned suddenly, hugging Evan. "Oh God! I missed you so much! I never thought I see you again!"

Evan hugged him back, holding the son he'd thought lost forever.

The crowd's attention elsewhere, Undyne handed her king a bag filled with Asgore's dust. "Sire."

King Asriel sighed, taking the bag. "Thank you." He frowned at the bag. "And now you will lay with our ancestors in the long custom of our family." His hand reached out and landed on Muffet's invisible head. "And thank you."

Muffet's camouflage slipped away as she pulled her hood back. "Always, Sire." She rubbed her head up against his hand, eyes closed and smile happy.

"You took another level."

She nodded. "From the monster who hurt Frisk. I refuse to be anything other than proud of it."

Evan leaned back. "Wait. Frisk said... fiance?"

XXXX

I hope you enjoyed this short adventure. If you did, please remember to say so with a comment! Made your own fic based on it? Drew some fanart? Let me know! I'd love to see it!


End file.
